Black Dagger Brotherhood - Lover Unveiled
by MsRahvin79
Summary: Vishous and the brothers are in a constant war with the slayers, but even a warrior made of ice gets thrown a curve ball every now and again. When Vishous saves Reigne he is brought into a world where the ice is forced to melt and where damsel isn't always the one who needs saving. Join the suspense as the war continues between vampires and slayers. Witness love bloom out of ice.
1. Glossary & Brothers

I took the thought from JR Ward since I knew the glossary was helpful when I first started the series. So I have provided for you as the first section to my story. I hope this helps.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PROPER NOUNS:

**Black Dagger Brotherhood** (pr n.) Highly-trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society. As a result of selective breeding within the race, Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength as well as rapid healing capabilities. They are not siblings for the most part and are inducted into the Brotherhood upon nomination by the Brothers. Aggressive, self-reliant and secretive by nature, they exist apart from civilians, having little contact with members of the other classes except when they need to feed. They are the subject of legend and the object of reverence within the vampire world.

**glymera **(n.) The social core of the aristocracy, roughly equivalent to Regency England's _ton._

**blood slave** (n.) Male or female vampire who has been subjugated to serve the blood needs of another. The practice of keeping blood slaves has largely been discontinued, though it has not been outlawed.

**The Chosen** (n.) Female vampires who have been bred to serve the Scribe Virgin. They are considered members of the aristocracy, though they are spiritually rather than temporally focused. They have little or no interaction with males, but can be mated at the Scribe Virgin's direction to propagate their class. They have the ability to prognosticate.

**leahdyre** (n.) A person of power and influence.

**mhis** (n.) The masking of a given physical environment; the creation of a field of illusion.

**doggen** (n.) Member of the servant class within the vampire world. Doggens have old, conservative traditions about service to their superiors, following a formal code of dress and behavior. They are able to go out during the day, but they age relatively quickly. Life expectancy is approximately five hundred years.

**The Fade** (pr n.) Non-temporal realm where the dead reunite with their loved ones and pass eternity.

**First Family** (pr n.) The king and queen of the vampires and any children they may have.

**hellren** (n.) Male vampire who has been mated to a female. Males may take more than one female as mate.

**leelan** (adj.) A term of endearment loosely translated as 'dearest one'.

**Lessening Society** (pr n.) Order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species.

**lesser** (n.) De-souled human who targets vampires for extermination as a member of the Lessening Society. Lessers must be stabbed through the chest in order to be killed, otherwise they are ageless. They do not eat or drink and are impotent. Over time, their hair, skin and irises lose pigmentation until they are blonde, blushless and pale-eyed. They smell like baby powder. Inducted into the Society by the Omega, they retain a ceramic jar thereafter into which their heart was placed after it was removed.

**needing period** (n.) Female vampire's time of fertility, generally lasting for two days and accompanied by intense sexual cravings. Occurs approximately five years after a female's transition and then once a decade thereafter. All males respond to some degree if they are around a female in her need. It can be a dangerous time with conflicts and fights breaking out between competing males, particularly if the female is not mated.

**The Omega** (pr n.) Malevolent, mystical figure who has targeted the vampires for extinction out of resentment directed towards the Scribe Virgin. Exists in a non-temporal realm and has extensive powers, though not the power of creation.

**princeps** (n.) Highest level of the vampire aristocracy, second only to members of the First Family or the Scribe Virgin's Chosen. Must be born to the title; it may not be conferred.

**pyrocant** (n.) Refers to a critical weakness in an individual. The weakness can be internal, such as an addiction, or external, such as a lover.

**rythe** (n.) Ritual manner of assuaging honor granted by one who has offended another. If accepted, the offended chooses a weapon and strikes the offender who presents him or herself without defenses.

**The Scribe Virgin** (pr n.) Mystical force who is counselor to the king as well as the keeper of vampire archives and the dispenser of privileges. Exists in a non-temporal realm and has extensive powers. Capable of a single act of creation which she expended to bring the vampires into existence.

**shellan** (n.) Female vampire who has been mated to a male. Females generally do not take more than one mate due to the highly territorial nature of bonded males.

**The Tomb** (pr n.) Sacred vault of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Used as a ceremonial site as well as a storage facility for the jars of lessers. Ceremonies performed there include inductions, funerals and disciplinary actions against Brothers. No one may enter except for members of the Brotherhood, the Scribe Virgin, or candidates for induction.

**transition** (n.) Critical moment in a vampire's life when he or she transforms into an adult. Thereafter, they must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive and are unable to withstand sunlight. Occurs generally in the mid-twenties. Some vampires do not survive their transitions, males in particular. Prior to their transitions, vampires are physically weak, sexually unaware and unresponsive, and unable to dematerialize.

**vampire** (n.) Member of a species separate from that of homo sapiens. Vampires must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive. Human blood will keep them alive, though the strength does not last long. Following their transitions, which occur in their mid-twenties, they are unable to go out into sunlight and must feed from the vein regularly. Vampires may not 'convert' humans through a bite or transfer of blood, though they are in rare cases able to breed with the other species. Vampires can dematerialize at will, though they must be able to calm themselves and concentrate to do so and may not carry anything heavy with them. They are able to strip the memories of humans, provided such memories are short term. Some vampires are able to read minds. Life expectancy is indeterminate.

**ahstrux nohtrum **(n.) Private guard with license to kill who is granted his or her position by the king.

**ahvenge** (v.) To commit an act of mortal retribution, carried out typically by a male loved one.

**chrih** (n.) Symbol of honorable death in the Old Language.

THE BROTHERS

**Wrath**: on of Wrath, is also known as the Blind King—the King of the Vampires and last pure-blood vampire in existence. As such, he is a well-known legend to the Lessers.

**Rhage**: son of Tohrture, is the strongest and most beautiful of the Brothers. Aptly nicknamed "Hollywood", he is also the most sexual because of his beast. Cursed by the Scribe Virgin, Rhage is possessed by a dark creature known only as the "Beast", making him a danger to everyone, including his Brothers.

**Zsadist**: son of Aghony, is the scarred, menacing Brother. Taken as an infant from his family, he is forced into blood and sexual slavery until his twin, Phury, rescues him a century later. He was described as being "ruined, not broken" by all those who knew.

**Phury**: son of Aghony, is Zsadist's twin brother. He starts out a celibate who cannot truly live because of everything that his biological brother has lost. Phury is extremely loyal to his brother, even shooting off his own leg to save him.

**Vishous**: son of the Bloodletter, is the most intelligent Brother, and the one who is specially gifted/cursed. Tattooed on his face, genitals (which are scarred because his father tried to castrate him), and one hand, he has the gift of psychometry. His curse is his ability to prognosticate: He sees the future, though not the 'when' of events, so he is tortured by his inability to save those he loves from danger. All of this was inherited from his mother, the Scribe Virgin.

**Tohrment**: was disowned by his father and taken in by the Brother Darius in the Old Country. When Wrath became King, Tohrment took over the leadership of the Brotherhood. He was the steady and calm Brother, ever serious but with a kind heart.

**Butch/Dhestroyer**: is the only human male ever to be allowed within the Brotherhood. However, he is also descended from the line of Wrath, which allows him to be "turned" and subsequently initiated as a Brother. An ex-homicide detective, Butch was lovingly given the nickname "Cop" by the vampires. He lives at the "Pit", a two-bedroom gatehouse connected to the mansion where the King and other Brothers reside. Friends with all of the warriors, he is especially close to Vishous, who also lives at the Pit. He is the object of an ancient Lesser prophecy and has the ability to sense them wherever they are. After absorbing them into himself, he is only able to be healed by Vishous.

**John Matthew/Tehrror**: is the reincarnation of Darius. Born mute, John uses American Sign Language and whistling to communicate with others. Now that he has gone through his transition, Wrath has made him join the war due to his unexplained proficiency with weapons and knowledge of Lessers. John is best friends with Qhuinn and Blaylock. He also shares a kinship with Zsadist because of the traumatic similarities in their pasts.

**Qhuinn**: s best friends with Blay and John, taking great comfort in the former's family. During training he came to the defense of John Matthew, nearly killing his cousin, Lash, when he pinned John to the wall, bringing back John Matthew's memories of being raped. In order to avoid being put to death, he was dedicated John's _ahstrux nohtrum_—his protector—and they work incredibly well together as a team.

**Blaylock**: is often referred to by his nickname "Blay" and was the first of the three friends (himself, Qhuinn, and John) to go through his transition. Currently, he lives with the Brotherhood and is a proficient soldier in the war against the Omega and the Lessening Society.


	2. The Castle

**Ok, I know that the fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood are many and may come across this story. I wrote this because I wanted to enjoy another story about Vishous as he is my fav of the Brothers. This story takes place after Butch has mated Marissa. I promise I will do my best to stay as true as possible to the story lines and the characters. There is some mild language below so beware as will be the case in all chapters, these are the same brothers we all know and love. Which means there will be lemony goodness in future chapters.**

**I do not own BDB, only my few characters and interpretations. Please enjoy!**

Dematerializing had taken what was left of her strength. She knew she was close to where she needed to be, but she could only see trees and night. This had been a last ditch effort to save her life as she had nowhere else to go. That and she had dreamt about her safe haven, but now it seemed as if the sun would find her before she found it. Looking around, she tried to orient herself and puzzle out the direction she needed to try to go. Closing her eyes, she let her senses filter through her surroundings, looking for anything that would lead her to her own kind while keeping an ear out for any signs of danger. There was nothing in her immediate surroundings that she could sense so she reached out further. As her senses hit an unyielding object she opened her eyes and turned in the direction of the obstruction. She just saw more trees so was unable to fathom what was stopping her. Reaching out again she hit the same obstruction but had the sense that even though she was being blocked that was the direction to go.

Taking a deep breath, she oriented herself in the direction of the obstruction and gathered her strength to find her way to some kind of shelter, hopefully before the sun rose. After a few steps she had to stop to gather more strength. Looking around she was starting to understand how foolish this plan was, to come out in search of a place she had no idea where it was and so close to dawn. Sighing, she had to admit that this had been her only option regardless of how foolish it was. At least this had the slim possibility of survival while her previous situation was a sure bet that she would see her first sunrise in centuries. Straightening her spine, reminding herself that she was not one to give up, had been raised to exhaust all options and keep going until the end. Giving up was not an option for her.

Reaching deep into her reserves she starting walking again and decided she was going the correct direction as she got the sense of being repelled. She was walking into some kind of mist and the farther she went the more she got the feeling that she did not belong here and she was supposed to turn around and never return. As she was looking for the saviors of her race then this must be the correct place. Her instincts never lead her wrong, but it did help that she had seen herself doing this for the past two months in her dreams. Recalling the dream she took strength from the knowledge that she arrived at her destination in her dream and received the shelter and help she sought. Failure was not an option and she reminded herself of that with every grueling step she took.

After what seemed like hours, she felt the mist starting to lessen around her and she could see more than just a few feet around her. The trees were still there but there was also a dark shape looming in front of her. As she could not make out what it was and her senses were not working as clearly as before, she removed her dagger and lowered herself into a crouch as she moved forward more slowly. Doing this took more effort, but there was no point rushing into something that could kill her. As she moved along she kept imagining the castle she was looking for, where the Brotherhood was, and the Blind King. She felt like she was close but could also sense that the sunrise was coming and quickly. Afraid that she was not going to make it she started to rush her progress and that was her downfall.

She was in unfamiliar territory and did not know what she would find when the mist cleared, but that did not stop the panic from rising. She would have run if she had the energy but as it was, she was almost on empty. Rushing forward she came to the end of the mist and saw the castle looming in front of her and that was the moment her energy ran out. With a moan she collapsed to the ground and just laid there. Trying to move her arms and legs to sit up was pointless. After what she had been through over she had no idea how long, her injuries and her fight to get here, she was just shy of her goal. Seeing the castle as close as it was and knowing she was not going to make it was the final straw that broke her resolve.

Looking to the sky, she prayed to the Scribe Virgin to take her quickly unto the Fade and sent her apologies to her parents for not fulfilling their request. She knew that if she did not keep trying to save herself then she would be in trouble and would not be promised to go unto the Fade. Reaching out with her senses she tried to find something that would help her. She was in a clearing and she could sense that she was close to quite a few parked vehicles so someone should be inside the castle and she could just barely sense a few life forms nearby.

Trying to reach out with her mind to somehow make contact with someone in the castle, she brushed over a consciousness that she recognized as it was similar to her own and her family. She tried to make contact but her strength was so far gone that she couldn't follow through. Groaning she looked around herself for something, anything that could help her. She saw a stone a couple feet to her left. Figuring she could throw it at something to make noise that hopefully someone would hear. Groaning with the effort it took, she pulled herself the short distance and got her hand on the stone. As her strength failed so did her sight. Knowing she was close to the end, she pooled all of her energy into throwing the stone towards one of the cars, hoping for an alarm.

As the stone flew and landed on the stone of the driveway, she would have cried in frustration and despair but she did not have the energy. Sensing that she was moments away from meeting the races creator she accepted her fate and was just grateful that it was not at the hands of her captors. Looking around she was able to focus barely on the front of the castle and wished her cousin therein a peaceful life and wished they would have had a chance to meet. With that she sighed and tried to get her head around so she could at least see the sunrise as it came. Instead of the sunrise, a face appeared in front of her. Thinking this was her brain trying to comfort her in her last moments; she took the time to look into the eyes that were the lightest shade of green and knew that she was looking into her cousin's eyes as they were the same as hers. Smiling at finally seeing him, she tried to lift her hand but was unable to move a muscle. Her last sight before her eyes closed for what she thought was the final time was enough to allow her to go with peace.

Rushing into the house, Wrath was cursing up a storm. Looking down at the female in his arms he hoped that his _shellan_ did not come looking for him for Last Meal. Not sure what to do with her he went up the stairs and looked for the first vacant guest room he could find. Opening a door on the left, he went in and laid her down on the bed as carefully as he could. Sensing a presence in the doorway he looked over his shoulder and nodded.

"Get the hell in here and shut that door. We do not need all of the brothers stumbling in here."

Vishous moved into the room as ordered and shut the door. "Who is she?"

Wrath sighed. "Not a clue, but I get the sense that I should know her. Fuck." Getting up he paced the room. "Check her; you know what should be done better than me."

Vishous moved to the bed and sat on the edge. Looking at the female laying there, he noticed how pale she was and the dark circles under her eyes. Listening he could barely hear her breathing or her heart beat. "She is on death's door. She needs to feed to keep her from going unto the Fade before we assess if there is anything else wrong with her."

"I don't know how she found us, but do it. There is something about her that I cannot place so do not leave her alone. If you have to leave get Butch or Phury to sit with her. Until I get answers she is not to be left alone in this house." Wrath stomped his shitkickers the whole way to the door and would have slammed it in frustration had he not been trying to not draw attention to the new house guest. All the while muttering under his breath about crazy females and a sense of recognition.

Looking down at the female, Vishous grimaced. He did not feed females himself if he could help it, but it was either him or death since Wrath stormed out. With a sigh he bit his wrist and placed it over her mouth. He knew once a few drops hit her tongue she would take over and he was braced for the impact. After a few seconds without her responding he leaned over and pulled her chin down so as to allow more to drip into her mouth. He had his molars locked in place in preparation of the impact and yet he still hissed when she struck his wrist with her fangs.

He looked down at her as she pulled from his veins and was amazed at the face he was looking into. She had eyes the lightest shade of green possible with a hint of gold around the pupils; they were mesmerizing and vaguely familiar. Trying to keep this as impersonal as possible he dragged his eyes from hers and saw that she had beautiful raven black hair that parted from a widow's peak in the front, which again seemed familiar to him. As she was lying down he could not see how long it was, but had the urge to run his fingers thru it to see if it was as silky as it looked. Shaking his head he concentrated on the pulls at his vein, knowing he would need to feed soon as she was going to take quite a bit herself. Thinking he would call on a Chosen at the next nightfall he was startled at the gentle caress of her tongue as she licked the puncture marks to close the wounds.

She settled more comfortably on the bed with a sigh. Vishous watched as the color slowly returned to her face but noticed that the darkness under her eyes did not dissipate. Thinking to leave her to rest for a while he stood up to move to a chair by the door. As he sat down he understood just how long this day was going to be. Thankfully he had a few hand rolleds in his pocket and pulled one out to help him relax. Even with his training he did not enjoy being the caretaker of anyone. Butch was about all he was capable of dealing with, but that was because it was Butch. He dealt with everyone only on a need to basis, preferring his computers and music to company. Used to be he would spend his days and nights bull shitting with Butch and drinking up a storm, but now that Butch had Marissa, Vishous found himself on his own more and more. Which was ok with him as that was his habit before Butch had been brought into their lives.

"Thank you." The voice drifted to Vishous from the bed, where he saw the female was studying him with a confused look on her face. "You were most kind to help me."

Sitting forward in the chair he braced his arms on his knees. "No problem. What's your name?"

"Reigne, I am called Reigne."

"Ok Reigne, I will wait till later to ask you what you are doing here and how you found us. For now, can you tell me if you are injured?" Vishous got up and walked back over to the bed so that he could examine her. Sometimes he really hated that he was always the go to medic for the brotherhood. Sitting down on the edge, his immense weight caused the side of the bed to dip and she rolled a little with the shift of the bed.

As her weight landed on her right arm she hissed. Reigne looked up and replied through clenched teeth. "I would say that answers your question." She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes as she concentrated on breathing through the pain. "I think the shoulder is the worst of them, but there are others. I have had so many in such a short period of time I do not know what has healed or not."

Vishous looked over her face as it had gone pale again with pain, noticed her grimace as a spasm shot through her arm. "K, I will need to look you over to see what can be done. If needed we can get you to Havers at nightfall, but I will do what I can." Pulling the covers down, he saw she was in a set of leathers, not unlike what the brothers wore to fight in; she also had on a leather biker's jacket. Thinking of her arm, the tightness of the jacket was not going to be easy to get off her without causing pain. "Need to get that jacket off; I can cut it off as the normal route will cause you a lot of pain."

Hissing through another spasm, "Can't cut it, it is all I have left of my sister."

"Hell, I can't hold you up and pull the jacket off too. Will need some help." He started to get up when he felt a hand on his arm. Looking down, he saw that even though it caused her pain to do so, she had used her wounded arm to stop him.

"Don't leave me alone. Please."

Down the hall in the study, Wrath was waiting for his _shellan_ to join the crew so he could go over the night's progress and let them know that they had a guest. He looked up as he sensed Beth walking down the hall and smiled as she entered the small room.

"Ok, how did it go out there tonight?" Wrath looked at Torhment for an update.

"The _lesser_ activity tonight was off the charts. Each group we encountered seemed to be searching for something, we just don't know what." Torh looked around and got nods confirming the others were on the same page. "We will have to try to take one for questioning, but we all know how that goes."

Butch lifted his head from the corner he was standing in. As he had been unable to locate V when he got back he was still in bad shape and was reeking of baby powder. "I was able to take out five of those bastards before I had to come back. Tried to get some answers, but they were all silent till the end. Anyone seen V? I'm dying here."

Sighing, Wrath straightened his shoulders. "Butch, he is down the hall. This brings us to the next topic. Just before you guys returned, V picked up movement on the monitors outside. Apparently, his _mhis_ is not impenetrable. What he showed me was a female that was able to get through the _mhis_ and somehow into our courtyard before she fell. I brought her in as I could not leave her to face the sun." Holding up his hand to stop the questions from rushing out, he sighed. "We do not know who she is yet, but V is taking care of her. She was completely drained and moments from going unto the Fade when she got here. We should meet again before First Meal and hopefully I will have an update for you. Dismissed."

Grumbling, the brothers all started to file out of the door. "Butch, Phury hold up a sec." As the two hung back as the rest filed out to go eat or recover from the long night, Wrath turned his gaze on the two brothers. "As we have no idea who this female is or why she is here, I have put V in charge of her and told him to get with you two if he needs help or to leave. Under no circumstances is she to be left alone until we have this all figured out."

Phury nodded. "Which room did you put her in? Need to get Butch to V before he falls over."

"They are in the fourth room on the left. Butch, I know what V does for you, if you don't want to use her room, drag V out for a bit. Phury can stay with her."

Butch nodded and turned to leave, lucky for him Phury was next to him or he would have crumpled to the floor. As he leaned on Phury he started shaking. "Thanks man. Oh this feels like death warmed over."

As the two left the study, Wrath took his shades off and tossed them on the desk, reaching up to rub his eyes. With his other hand, he reached for his _shellan_. "Oh, _leelan._" As she came to him he buried his face in her stomach. "Please do not be mad at me."

Laughing softly, Beth placed her hands in his hair. "Now, my love, why would I be mad at you? It sounds like you most likely saved that female's life. My hope would be that any of you would have done the same." She felt him tighten his hold on her. "Look at me." As he did as asked, she was still awed by the beauty of his eyes. Tracing the lines around his eyes, she knew he was soaking up everything that he could see fearing that one day he would lose what little sight he has left. "Wrath, your rushing out to help her is just one of the many reasons that I love you. You are truly a male of worth and I would not have my _hellren_ be any other way."

Wrath sighed and reached up to her face to cup her cheek. "The Scribe Virgin blessed me truly with our mating. In all my over three hundred years as a vampire, I never once dreamt that I would be blessed with someone like you. "

"I think I am the one that was blessed to have you. I know that is not what is worrying you right now though. Talk to me, use me as a sounding board and maybe if we can ease your worry, you can use me in another way?" Beth said as she moved to straddle his lap.

Willing the doors closed and the lock to engage, Wrath let out a growl of pleasure. He truly was blessed with his female. "I could tell from looking at the female and carrying her in, that I should know her. I cannot tell you why I feel that way, but she just seems so familiar to me. As you well know, I did not deal with females to any major extent other than feeding until you, _leelan_."

"I know and once we get a chance to talk to her and find out who she is and why she is here, I am sure you will be able to piece together where you know her from. This is naught but a thought for after a day of rest and fun. Think no more of her, Vishous will take care of her, so you have no reason to not focus your attention solely on your _shellan_ who sits on your lap wishing to be naked and to be thoroughly loved by her male." Beth leaned in and kissed Wrath on the neck, scratching his skin with her fangs.

Wrath's growl and Beth's laughter could be heard in the hallway and then some. No one took any notice though; this was an everyday occurrence for the King and his Queen.

Vishous sat back down on the bed, careful not to allow his weight to shift the mattress again. Still looking at the hand on his arm he sighed, wishing for a way to detach from this chore as he had dubbed it in the beginning. He had to acknowledge though that this female was not going to be one to label as a chore, but she was injured and he had to keep any thoughts that did not pertain to her healing away from his brain matter. Deep breath.

"I am not going anywhere. I was just going to get some help." He moved her arm back to her side, thinking it would be more comfortable, but cursed under his breath at her hiss of pain. "Ok, we have to do something with that arm and I need to see what is wrong with it. I understand that the jacket belonged to your sister but I don't think that it will come off any other way than cutting it off."

Reigne's eyes jumped to his and he almost swore again. The desperation in her eyes was enough to break his heart, if he believed he had one that is. "You cannot cut it. I have nothing to remember my sister by and she was taken from me not long ago. She sacrificed herself so that I would be able to make it here." She reached up with her left arm to latch onto the jacket with what little strength she could muster. Holding onto the jacket she seemed to come to a decision within herself. "If you can sit me up I will hold still as you pull off the jacket."

"Don't be stupid. That will cause you all kinds of pain and you can't even lift up your arm let alone hold yourself up. Let me get…"

"If you will not help me to sit up then I will manage on my own. I cannot lose this jacket and I cannot handle being alone even for a moment." Reigne looked into his face, resolve solidifying into her expression as well as a bit of embarrassment. "I beg your forgiveness, you have been kind enough to help me, but I do not know your name. What are you called?"

Running his good hand through his blue black hair, he stared back at Reigne with his icy blue orbs and wondered how he got tossed into this ordeal with her. His cursed knowledge of medicine, that was it. Well, if he just remembered that once she was better he would be back to his normal routine and that as she was not part of the Brotherhood, then she would be gone shortly as well. Oddly, that thought pained him, just a little bit.

"Vishous. That was the name given me." Looking over her face again and noting the stubborn look of determination to get her way, he threw up his hands in defeat. "Ok, we will do this your way. When the pain causes you to fall back or pass out, be prepared for an 'I told you so'."

"You shall not have to say it. I am no stranger to pain, tis been my companion for nigh three hundred years now." With that, she held out her left hand for help to a sitting position.

Pushing her hand back down, Vishous leaned over and placed his hands on her shoulders. As she winced in pain he readjusted his hand on her right shoulder so that her back was on his hand and not her shoulder. "Use your good arm to hold on to me." She brought her left arm up and placed her hand on his bicep, nodded to him and clenched her jaw.

Slowly he started pulling her up, almost stopped as she hissed and dug her fingers into his arm. Knowing that going slowly was not going to be completely to her benefit, he gently pulled her to a sitting position and gave her a second to acclimate to the pain. He had to admit that she was doing better than he had expected. He had expected at least one scream or some tears by now.

Giving her a nod, he let go with his left hand and moved to her left side. "I figure getting this side off first will make it easier on your injured shoulder."

"Do as you must, warrior, I will not fail in this."

That statement coupled with her resolve made him appreciate this female all the more. He could not stand the females of the _glymeara _with their simpering ways and delicate sensibilities. All you had to do was breath in their direction and they got their panties all twisted. This female though, she was reacting to the situation as a warrior would, no fussing, just stubborn resolve and determination.

Taking her left arm in his hand he put his other hand up on the lapel of the jacket. "Take a deep breath and let me know when you are ready to start."

Reigne looked at him and saw that he meant business but sensed that he was going to be as gentle as he could with her. Comforted by what she saw, she nodded for him to begin.

As Vishous started to pull the jacket off of her left arm, he had to work the wrist of the jacket free of her hand. He looked up at her as she hissed in pain. Her eyes were locked on the wall in front of her and he doubted that she was paying much attention to him. He pulled on the jacket as he bent her arm to ease it out of the confining tightness and he heard her molars grind together. "Ok, another deep breath. This last part is going to be the hardest part as I pull your arm completely out of the jacket."

Another nod from her and he reached his hand inside the arm of the jacket and took the sleeve of the jacket with his gloved hand. "Here we go." Not sure who he was trying to prepare, himself or her, he shook his head and started to pull on her arm and the sleeve, going in opposite directions.

Vishous hissed as he saw the arm that he was pulling out of the jacket. There were bruises and gashes up and down her lovely skin. What in the hell happened to her to cause all of this?

Reigne looked at Vishous when he hissed. It had been so long since anyone had gotten upset on her behalf that she almost lost her resolve to stay up right. Thinking she needed to calm him so he could finish getting the jacket off, she pulled her left arm closer to her body, trying to shield him from the sight. She knew she looked horrible and was ashamed that any warrior would have to see her like this. "Tis nothing. I have lived through worse. Please finish with the jacket, warrior."

"Worse? Fuck! There is no reason for anyone to go through this. You, female, are going to have some explaining to do once that jacket is off. And I promise, not only are you going to give me a full explanation but you will also be getting a full examination from me, top to bottom. Are we clear?"

Looking at Vishous and his outraged expression, she knew there was no arguing. Whomever he was mated to would have to be a very luck female. Reigne could sense that this warrior would avenge his female to the death if need be. That thought brought about a new pain, one that she quickly ignored, figuring now was not the time and she had bigger things to deal with than a warrior that was not her own. "I understand, warrior, and I would expect nothing less from a male of worth such as you."

"Look, female, compliments will not get you out of anything, so you can just stop right there. Let me get readjusted and we will get the rest of this cursed jacket off of you." Growling to himself, Vishous tried to find a good spot to sit so that he could get that damned jacked off her. He ended up sitting behind her, but slightly to the right of her. That was so he could get the right angle to get her arm out as well as asses the arm as it came free.

"You do not need to go slow on my account, warrior. Just get this over with so the pain will go away, please." Reigne did not beg but it sounded like she was getting close to the end of her resolve. Pain can be a drain on resolve and strength, no matter how stubborn the vampire was that was enduring it. She clenched her teeth together tightly knowing this was going to hurt more than the other arm and nodded at Vishous to begin.

Vishous could only admire her resolve and silently promised to make this as quick and painless as possible as well as a mental note to himself to find who did this and beat them to within an inch of their worthless life and then beat them all over again. No male of worth would ever think to treat a female like this, well not one with any brains and just like the humans they stayed away from, the vampires had a few bad seeds in the race that would sink low enough to beat their females. Reminding himself this was not his female and to get this over with, he took her hand in one hand and the sleeve in the other.

"Deep breath. Here we go." Vishous started to tug on the sleeve as gently as possible while holding her hand and realized he was holding the wrong spot as he heard her hiss. Quickly latching onto her shoulder up by her neck he started to tug again on the sleeve. Leaning forward to get a better angle to view the process he also had a view of her profile. Looking at her he paused and took his gloved hand off her shoulder to reach up and wipe a tear off her face.

Reigne was startled by the touch and embarrassed by her tears, fearing the warrior would see her as weak. Over her long life she had learned to hide such weaknesses, but here with this warrior, safe in the King's mansion, she felt herself relaxing her control on herself. For so long she had to be ever vigilant so as not to be taken by surprise by her captors or show a weakness to be used against her. Only her love for her sister was ever used against her, but now that was no longer an issue. Quickly stopping that train of thought she looked to her arm and noticed that she could not feel the hand on her shoulder. "I guess the injury was more extensive than I had thought."

"We will know soon enough. You ok to finish getting the jacket off?"

Taking a deep breath and turning her gaze away from her arm, she nodded. Before he could start tugging again, she put her left hand on top of his gloved one, making him jerk back. Ducking her head in shame from his reaction she spoke up. "I am sorry; I meant nothing by the touch. I just wanted to say thank you for doing this. Please continue, I shall not stop you again."

Sighing, Vishous placed his hand back on her shoulder. "It is not you, most everyone stays as far away from that hand as they can get. Tis the curse I have lived with all my life, it is good only for destruction." Wondering why he felt he had to explain, he shook his head, trying to get back to the task at hand. "K, I will be as careful as possible but I cannot promise you no more pain from this."

"I understand warrior. Do get this over with."

Gripping her shoulder, he glanced at her profile before he started to tug on the sleeve again. He noticed that she was back to locking her teeth together and was staring at the door. Hoping the rest of the sleeve would come off easily; he started to tug on the sleeve again. As the shoulder of the jacket started to come off her arm, Vishous growled low at the sight of her shoulder. From the looks it appeared to be dislocated, which was an easy but painful fix. Continuing to pull the sleeve down he hoped he would not see a repeat of the other arm, but did not get an inch below her should before he saw the first gash and it had not been completely revealed. As the sleeve came all the way off finally, he took her hand in his and held up her arm so he could examine all that was revealed.

Her shoulder was definitely dislocated and the gash that started just below her shoulder went all the down past her elbow and it looked infected. Looking closely at her wrist he saw the scrapes and bruising, as if she had been tied up. Moving quickly he took up her other hand and saw that her left wrist bore the same markings.

Looking at Reigne's face he noticed how she was still not looking at either of her arms, almost like if she didn't see it then it hadn't happened to her. "Reigne, look at me."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Looking over at him she kept her gaze from looking down at her arms. "Yes, warrior?"

"Who did this to you?"

Phury stumbled down the hallway under the added weight of a barely conscious Butch. Thinking he needed to get Butch to V as quickly as possible he was just going to head to the room the female was in and just hoped that she was out cold. "You get no say in this cop, taking you to V and he can fix you up right nice. Not going to put you somewhere and wait for his ass to get to you."

Butch was so far gone that he didn't even respond coherently, just provided a mumble.

Cursing under his breath, Phury all but dragged Butch to the fourth room on the left and didn't even bother with the knocking. He just reached out and pushed open the door and dragged Butch into the room. As he shut the door, he looked over and saw Vishous and the female sitting on the bed. Phury was struck by her beauty and how familiar she looked and knew why the instant their eyes met.

"What the fuck Phury?" Vishous carefully removed himself from the bed, careful not to jar the female an inch and went to help Phury lay the cop down on the other side of the bed.

"He took out five slayers before we could stop him. He is hell bent on this prophecy thing and he takes after you. Once he gets a thought there is no stopping him."

"Fuck. K, we can't move him again and I don't want her leaving this room. Damn. Phury, you go help her lie back down and keep her comfortable. This may take awhile." Taking his glove off his hand, he looked over at Reigne. "Reigne, this is Phury. He will help you as needed while I heal Butch here. Don't get scared as I have been told this is quite a sight to see."

Reigned nodded at him in acknowledgement, but could not take her eyes off of his hand. After he removed his glove, she could see the tattoos on his hand and around his fingers. They were a warning to stay away from him. Wondering about that she looked up at him as he tucked the glove in his pocket and noticed for the first time the tattoos on his left temple and around his eye. Another warning to stay away.

Vishous looked up to see that Reigne was staring at him with a very odd look on her face. When she saw that he had caught her staring, she blushed and looked down at his hand as it had started to glow. "Reigne, look at me." She lifted her eyes back to his. "I won't hurt you, do not be afraid of me."

"I am not afraid of you warrior. It appears that if you want to ask me questions then I should be able to ask you as well." Turning her head to Phury who was standing next to her she summarily dismissed V from her mind. "Phury, thank you for your assistance. If you could, please help me lie back as I am afraid I do not have the strength to do it without causing myself great pain."

As Phury reached out for her shoulders, V stopped him. "Phury, stop, her right shoulder is dislocated so be gentle with her."

Phury looked up at V with a strange look on his face, but nodded. He placed his hands on her back and sat down next to her. "My lady, relax and I will help you get comfortable." At her nod, he lowered his arms until she was resting back on the pillow. "My lady, is there anything that I can get for you?"

Reigne looked at Phury and wondered if he had put two and two together. When he had walked into the room his face had shown recognition when she had looked at him. "Thank you Phury, could I get a glass of water please?"

"Of course, my lady." He bowed his head to her and walked into the bathroom.

Vishous watched all of it with a confused look on his face. Phury was normally the proper one of all the brothers and that was nothing new, but why was he treating Reigne like she was some kind of royalty. Hearing a groan from Butch had him tabling that line of thought.

Leaning down, he placed his palm on the cop's forehead. "I am hear my man, we will get you good as new. Then you can go be comforted by your _shellan_." Not wanting to move the male, V climbed over Butch so that he could lie next to him and pulled him into his arms. With his glowing hand, he placed it on the cop's chest and just laid there.

Reigne watched everything that Vishous did out of the corner of her eye. She was a bit shocked to see him climbing into the bed and pulling the other male into his arms, especially since he had just said the other male was mated. As his hand started to glow, she drew in a sharp breath, which brought a new pain to her in her chest. Bruised or broken ribs most likely. Watching the males together, she saw as the glow went from just covering the warrior's hand to encompassing the two males as a whole. There was such warmth coming from the warrior's back and she was suddenly so cold. Fighting the pain had used up what little energy she had gained from the warrior's blood.

Phury was a bit shocked that V was going to heal the cop with Reigne lying on the same bed. Normally it was a private thing and V didn't want anyone in the room with them let alone being within touching range. Phury understood that V didn't want to hurt anyone accidentally with his hand, so he would do his part to distract Reigne so she did not risk getting more hurt than she already was. He thought about her arms and her neck. All of those bruises and gashes and add to that the dislocated shoulder and he would have thought she had been tortured. No one of his race would even dare to think about torturing another vampire, well not the respectable ones at least.

After filling the cup with water, he turned around and saw the glow on the floor, so V had already started to heal Butch. Hurrying back out to the bedroom, he almost dropped the glass of water. Reigne was watching V and Butch glow and had started to reach out to touch V's back.

"My lady, Reigne, do not touch him." He all but sprinted to the side of the bed, but he was not quick enough. Right before he got to her side, her palm had flattened on V's back. Not sure what to do, Phury could only watch as the glow started to work its way up her arm.

Reigne had to touch that warmth, if she could get just a little of the warmth maybe she wouldn't feel so cold anymore or so tired. Reaching out her hand she watched as her hand got closer to the warrior's back and hissed at the contact when she touched his back. Instantly she felt a current run through her arm and with it came the warmth that she craved. Closing her eyes, she let the warmth take over her arm and only opened them again when she felt her fingers begin to tingle. Watching her arm, she saw as the bruises and scrapes around her wrist started to heal and sighed as that healing warmth moved higher up her arm.

As the warmth hit her elbow and moved up her arm to her shoulder, the tingling grew more intense and it started to frighten her. Staring wide eyed she wanted to pull away but found that she could not break contact with the warrior's back. It was as if her hand was glued to him. Getting truly scared she started to pant as the warmth crept into her chest. The pain in her ribs of the healing warmth hit her with such a surprise that her back arched and she growled in pain from her shoulder. Closing her eyes and willing herself to silently endure what she seemed to have started, the warmth faded from her. She was so weak from everything combined, she could barely crack her eyes open, but she tried to anyways.

The last thing that she saw before she succumbed to the pain was two very worried warriors looking down at her. She tried to tell them she was ok but her mouth would not work. She managed to shift her left arm and placed her hand on V's ungloved hand and squeezed. Looking into his worried eyes she closed her own, succumbing to a dreamless sleep.

**Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the long start to my new story. Please please review the story so that I know if I need to do anything differently. Good and critiquing reviews are always welcome.**

**Should have the next chapter up shortly. This story is just flowing out at a good steady pace.**


	3. The First Vision

**Ok, I know the first chapter was super long, but it was just how it flowed. We will see where this chapter takes us. This story takes place after Butch has mated Marissa. I promise I will do my best to stay as true as possible to the story lines and the characters. I do not plan to write multiple story lines like JR Ward does as I believe on this scale it would be too hard to follow, but if one is important I will tie it in. There is some mild language below so beware. **

**I do not own BDB, only my few characters and interpretations. Please enjoy!**

Vishous could only look back and forth between the cop and the female, torn between which one he should help first. Sensing the even breathing of the cop, he knew he had done what he could for him, so he could turn his attention to the female. Looking down, he saw that her hand was still on his left one, his cursed hand. Normally he would have jerked back when she touched his hand, but something told him to hold still as the female needed the contact.

"Phury! What the fuck happened?" The brother was staring at the female like she was dead. "Phury, brother, look at me." V tried a calmer tone and it worked.

Phury turned and looked at Vishous with the most apologetic eyes. "She asked for water so I went into the bathroom to get her some. When I came back out, she was reaching for you. I tried to stop her but I was too late. By the time I got to her side, her hand already rested on your back. She began to glow. Oh the glow. What did I allow to happen?" He put his face in his hands and drew in a deep breath.

"She touched me? Why didn't I feel it?" V looked down at the female again and noticed that her left arm, the only one that she could have reached him with, no longer had any scrapes or bruising on it. Before Butch he had never tried to heal anyone with his hand, never thought it was possible. But here this female lay, with a healed arm and her hand gently resting on his cursed one. "Phury, how much of her was consumed by the glow?"

Phury responded without looking up. "The glow covered her arm and started to go over her shoulder and onto her chest when her back arched and she growled in pain. What have I done? I will have to tell Wrath when he awakens."

A groan drew V's attention back to the cop. Leaning over he saw that Butch was coming around and was looking a hell of a lot better than when he came in here. "Hey cop, what's doing?"

Groaning, Butch rolled to his back. "I am not in the mood for your cheeriness, V, that's what's doing. Do I smell better?"

With a chuckle, V leaned over and gave his friend the sniff test. "No trace of that rancid baby powder smell. You my man are all good."

"Smelling better is good; still feel like I was run over by a mack truck though. That was cutting it really close there V, thought I was a goner." Coughing, he sat up with a little bit of help from V. He looked over at the female that Wrath had mentioned in the meeting. "So what's doing with the female?"

Vishous sighed and looked back at her. "Her name is Reigne and I think someone tortured her before she came here, but I have not gotten the deets yet. Lots of injuries, although she touched me while I was healing you and apparently it works on her too. Her left arm is now bruise and gash free."

Butch looked at her and saw the face with the aristocratic nose and the raven black hair falling around her face from her widow's peak. A vague sense of recognition hit him but then he caught up to what V just said. "Wait, are you telling me she touched you while you were all aglow and she was not hurt by it? And here I thought I was just something special to you."

Vishous laughed at his friend. "Cop you will always be something special, just not quite sure what it is yet. How about I get Phury here to help you back to the Pit so Marissa can finish taking care of you? I am sure she is wondering where you are."

Phury got up and walked around the bed and held his hand out to help Butch up. Usually after a healing session, Butch was better but drained, which is why the healing usually happened in the Pit, where his bed was.

Before taking Phury's hand, Butch leaned over and squeezed V's shoulder. "Thanks man, apparently no one knew that the Dhestroyer prophecy called for two vamps did they?" Laughing he let Phury pull his ass off the bed. Leaning on him for support he stopped laughing as he looked back at his friend. "Hey, V? Did you know that you still haven't put your glove back on that deadly hand of yours? Normally I wouldn't be worried about it but you and the female appear to be holding hands, without protection. Freaky ass bastard. Now my feelings are hurt, you never hold my hand like that." Laughing again, Butch got Phury walking towards the door.

Vishous could still hear Butch's laughter out in the hall. He was glad the cop was feeling better. He always hated that taking down the slayers always brought the cop down so bad. Looking down, he saw that the cop was right, his cursed hand was still under the female's hand, but at some point he had flipped it around so that they were resting palm to palm. Seeing that, V jerked back expecting to see her arm disintegrate from the touch. Holding his breath, nothing happened. He looked at his palm and it started to glow again, taking the hand rolled back out of his pocket he placed it on his palm. Within seconds the hand rolled was nothing more than ash. Quickly sliding his glove back on he leaned over the female, checking to make sure she was still breathing.

As he leaned closer, he heard the faint sound of her breath leaving her mouth and a very faint heartbeat. Sitting back up he began to ponder what was going on. So like Butch, his hand had healed the female's arm, but now she was almost back to where she started before feeding. She was going to have to feed again before he could set her shoulder, which he would need another brother to help out with. He couldn't hold her up and pop the shoulder back in place and he knew that she would not have the strength to sit up to help out, no matter how stubborn she was.

Sensing that she was in a deep sleep, he decided to let her rest a bit before he woke her up to get back to healing her. Vishous lay down on the other side of the bed, making sure not to jostle her around in the process. Propping his arms behind his head, he stared at the ceiling. A sense of dread washed over him, causing him to frown. Since his visions had dried up he had not been able to see into everyone's thoughts, which was a blessing, although it did help in certain situations. Focusing on his sense of dread, he closed his eyes to help his concentration.

Vishous was immediately surrounded by basement scenery. He could still feel the bed beneath him, so he knew he was safe but the visuals were so real. He looked around the basement but could just barely make out the door, as the room was lit by only one candle. Getting the feeling that he needed to get out of there, he tried to moved, but found himself held fast to the wall behind him. Looking up he saw that his arms were chained over his head, only they were not his arms. They were long and delicate, with bruising and gashes. Looking down he saw that he was sitting on the dirt floor of the basement and he was naked. Again, they were not his legs or body that he was seeing; it was that of a female. Sensing another presence in the basement with him, he looked to the side and there was another female, chained up the same way, only he could see more injuries on her midsection and neck.

V understood how visions worked and he knew that until it released him, he was stuck. Hearing a voice calling out from outside the door, he felt the body flinch and tighten in fear. Instincts kicked in and V wanted to protect the females from what was causing this fear. He knew he could do nothing as this had all already happened and it seemed that Reigne was reliving the experience in her dreams. Somehow he had managed to tap into her dreams. As he looked with Reigne, he saw the basement door open and there was a silhouette in the doorway. As there was very little light in the room and the figure was lit from behind in the hallway, he had no way of knowing who this male was.

"Reigne, it is good to see that you are awake. I see that Killigan is the lucky one as she has found sleep." The figure took a step into the room and shut the door behind him. "My dear Reigne, I think it is time that we try to come to a mutual understanding. If you do as you are told, then that beautiful body of yours will not be damaged any more. I promise it. I will find a male for you to feed from so that you can heal."

"I would rather die, my lord, than be your whore. Do not think that I do not know what you have done. My cousin shall find out about you and then we will see who is damaged." Reigne spat in the direction of the figure.

With a deep chuckle, the figure stepped closer, still not fully in the light. All V could see was that it was a male, not a big one like himself, but big enough to man handle a female or two as it were. "Oh Reigne, he does not even know that you exist. Your parents saw to that, had you and your sister hidden away for fear of the curse of the twins. I do not think he will be coming for you any time soon."

"I did not say he was coming for me, I said he would be coming for you. Even if you kill both of us, he will still find out what you are doing and he will put a stop to it."

"You sound so sure of a male that you have never met. I find that quite interesting." The male licked his lips. "So, shall we get started with tonight's session? Will you be cooperative this time?"

Taking a deep breath, Reigne hissed at the male. "I shall fight you until my dying breath."

"As you wish. I do so dislike this torture business, especially when its family." As the male spoke he started walking closer and pulled a knife out of his pocket. "Maybe we can break that stubborn streak of yours tonight."

As Reigne struggled against her fear to appear outwardly calm, V truly felt the need to rip this male limb from limb. Right as the male was about to step into the light, V's eyes snapped open. There was a noise in the room and he couldn't place it. Calming his beating heart, he realized the sound was coming from him, he was growling. There was no denying it, he was reacting to the visions of Reigne about to be beaten. Turning his head he saw that she was tossing in her sleep. Apparently the dream had only ended for him.

Leaning over to her, he gently brushed her hair off of her face. Not sure how to calm a person in a dream, he tried holding her hand and quietly telling her it was ok. Feeling like a complete ass and totally out of his element, he cursed himself for being inadequate. He remembered seeing how Zsadist held Bella whenever she was upset and it would always calm her down.

Thinking that it couldn't hurt to try, he situated himself next to her on the bed while leaning back on the head board. Gently reaching around her hurt shoulder, he pulled her into his lap and rested her head on his shoulder. Wrapping his arms around her, he did the most natural thing next; he rested his chin on the top of her head and started to purr. For the first time he wished that he could be what a female would want, a caring and devoted male that even though he was a warrior could talk about things and be into the lovey dovey stuff. With the way he had had to turn her to get her in his lap, he was slightly amazed she was still out. Gently, he rubbed her back and just hoped there were no injuries back there that he could hurt.

Reigne had calmed down some when he pulled her into his arms and started to purr. It was a natural reaction in females and that is why the males did it, it was a calming sound. Vishous thought that she was coming out of the dream when she started to twitch as if she were being hit. That is when he knew he had to wake her up as she was completely reliving the beating that was promised in that dream. He brushed her hair out of her face and tried gently patting her cheek.

"Reign, wake up." No response. More patting. "Reigne, wake up, damn it." At a loss of what to do next, he got louder as he couldn't shake her due to her injuries. "Female, wake up this instant."

With a scream, Reigne came awake and was confused by her surroundings. The first thing she noticed were the male arms that were holding her and that was more than she could handle. Punching out with both arms she connected with the chest behind her and was released. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder as well the rest of her body, she shot across the room to a corner, where she backed in. Looking around the room in pure panic, she was waiting for the male to come after her.

V looked at her from where he was still sitting on the bed. Taking his hand he rubbed the spots on his chest where she had hit him and winced at the pain. No doubt about it, if needed this female could take care of herself. Now he just had to get her to calm down and get back in the bed before she hurt herself any further. Making sure to go slow, he slid to the edge of the bed and stopped, making no move to get closer to her.

"Reigne, you are safe. You came to the brotherhood this morning before sunrise. You are safe."

Reigne heard the words but they did not register with her. All she could see was the basement and the male waiting to beat her again. "No, tis but a trick. You mean for me to drop my guard and then you will attack again." She was panting and crossed her arms over herself as if to block her body from sight.

Cursing, V remembered from the dream that she had been chained naked to the wall. It was sad how much they appeared to have in common, but that was not something he would wish on anyone. From the dream he could only assume that a male from her family had done this to her and he cringed inwardly. Family really does suck.

"Reigne, I promise you are safe. You fed from me naught four hours ago. Wrath carried you in here from outside and I have been tending your injuries since. Use your senses and check around you. I promise, female, you are safe with the brotherhood. I will not let anything happen to you again." V stared at her and waited to see if that would cut through her panic.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a few more deep breaths she cracked open her eyes and looked around the room. When her eyes came back to the bed and met V's worried stare, she sagged, visibly sagged in relief. "Fates, I have never experienced that before." She lifted her right arm to cover her mouth and cried out in pain.

Coming off the bed, V walked towards her, still calmly as he didn't want to startle her. "Female, let me help you. Your arm is still injured." He stopped about 5 feet away from her as she was still backed into the corner. He wanted to give her the chance to fully calm down and come to him. Nothing like a cornered injured female, he bet he had the bruises to confirm she was tough.

"Warrior, I do not know what to say." She paused and took a step toward him. "I do not fully understand what happened."

"You were dreaming of what happened to you, I saw a good bit of it. I have the ability to read minds, or I did at least, but I think while you were dreaming you were reaching out for comfort. I got pulled into your dream." V growled as he looked her up and down. He could see that she was fighting to stay standing and was holding her right arm against her stomach. "I do not know what all was done or when that happened, but I vow that I will do what I can to heal you. I also vow that we will right the wrongs that were committed against you. And so I vow."

"Warrior, I know not what to…" She turned just in time to see the door to the bedroom burst open and a massive male with long blonde hair rush in.

Vishous turned to see who just blundered in and of course it was Hollywood. He had a good heart but horrible timing. Putting a hand up to stop him in his tracks, V turned back to Reigne, except she wasn't where she had been just a second ago. Looking around he couldn't find her, but he knew she couldn't go far as once inside the mansion the lead in the walls kept one from dematerializing and she did not have the energy regardless. He realized where she was the same time Rhage started to laugh.

Reigne tightened her hold on the back of the warrior's shirt and peeked around his shoulder at the blonde male in the doorway. As the warrior started to turn around and she was being pulled with his shirt, which would put her closer to the blonde male, she let go of the shirt long enough to grab onto the warrior's shirt in the front.

With a sigh, V put his arms around the female and lightly purred, which caused Rhage to laugh even more. "Female, cease your worry. Rhage is not gonna hurt you. He is my fellow brother and was only reacting to your scream from when you woke up. True?" The last was aimed over his shoulder at Hollywood.

"True that." He walked into the room and shut the door. Slowly so that the female could see he made his way him to the side of Vishous. "I am sorry if I frightened you. I only meant to protect you after hearing your scream."

Reigne looked around V's shoulder and into the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. Looking into that face she was immediately put at ease and relaxed her hold on V's shirt. "I beg your forgiveness for running from you. I am easily startled at the moment." Taking a deep breath, she looked up at V and was momentarily lost in his ice blue eyes. He had the look of such a stern and commanding warrior and yet his eyes were showing nothing but concern. "Verily, warrior, you can let go of me. I promise I shall not fall to pieces on you again."

V stepped back and dropped his arms, having completely forgotten that he was still holding on to her. "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yes, warrior, other than the pain I am fine. I think I will sit back down though." Reigne turned to go back to the bed but her legs did not want to do as they were commanded. She went to take a step, but nothing happened in the forward motion, her leg did decide to move, just in a downward direction. As she prepared to collapse on the floor and braced for the pain, she was suddenly swept up in the warrior's arms. Keeping her eyes down as he walked her to the bed, she felt ashamed of needing so much assistance.

V gently laid her back down on the bed and noticed her downcast eyes. "Reigne, do not feel ashamed of needing help. You are injured and we still have not assessed how badly and where. Which we will fix right now." Gathering the pillows from the other side of the bed, he tried to cushion her back to prop her up. "Rhage, I need to get her shoulder back in place as its dislocated, you think you can help hold her up?"

"Sure thing. Is that ok with you, my lady?" Rhage waited for her nod before moving to the bed. "V has she fed since she got here? She looks like she is going to pass out."

"She will feed once we set her shoulder. Without knowing the extent of her injuries I am not sure what she can stand. She got caught up in the healing when I was healing Butch and it seemed to drain what energy she had right out of her."

Rhage looked at the female with concern. "She got caught in the healing how?"

"I touched his back while he glowed, I was drawn to the warmth he was emitting and I was so cold. The warmth went through my arm and healed it, but the pain it caused in my chest is what broke the connection."

V looked at Reigne in surprise, he had not expected her to understand what happened, but she got the gist of what he had only done for Butch up until now. "True, the healing can hurt if the injuries are extensive. If you had pain then I would bet you have a broken rib or two, but we will get that figured out soon. Hollywood, quit standing around, I need to you to hold her in place so that she won't move when I pop her shoulder back in place."

Rhage moved closer to the bed and was about to lean over when he realized he had no clue which shoulder. "My lady, which shoulder is it that pains you?"

V rolled his eyes; Hollywood was ever the charmer, even after being mated. "Hollywood, it's her right shoulder so you will need to support her on her left side."

"Got it." Looking at the bed, he decided the best idea would be to sit behind her on the left side. So he walked around the bed and as gently as he could with his massive size, he climbed onto the bed and settled next to her. "I am going to move you so you are sitting in front of me, ok?"

With a quick glance at the warrior, Reigne took a deep breath and nodded, preparing for the pain as he moved her. Although in the span it took for her to take that deep breath, she was already sitting between his legs and resting on his chest, with no pain endured. As she relaxed her tense muscles she heard a sound coming from the warrior. Looking at him she almost wished she hadn't. The fierce scowl on his face was a perfect match for the growl emanating from him.

Rhage lifted his hands as he recognized that growl, but did not understand why V was doing it. "Vishous, man, this is the best way to hold her up and steady. If she is locked up against me you know she won't be moving." When V didn't respond Rhage tried another tactic. "Can we hurry this up so she is not in as much pain and it gives Mary less of a chance to hunt me down and find me like this? Please?"

Vishous looked at Rhage with Reigne sitting between his legs and resting back on his chest. A part of him understood that what Hollywood was saying made sense, but there was a greater part of him that bristled at the sight of another male touching her. Shaking his head he tried to get himself back on track. Fix the shoulder you fidiot, he told himself, the quicker it's done the quicker Hollywood gets his paws off her. That logic did the trick.

"True. Let's get this done. Hollywood, you will have to hold her completely still. Just moving her arm into position is going to hurt like hell." He looked down at Reigne. "I know this goes against my vow from earlier, female, but with your arm, the only way to fix it will cause you a lot of pain."

"I trust you warrior. I know that you do not do this to intentionally cause me pain. Believe me, this little bit of pain is nothing compared to my last centuries." The look she gave him was of complete trust and V was not used to that from anyone other than his brothers and their _shellans_.

He nodded at Hollywood and took a hold of Reigne's right hand. Waiting, he watched as Rhage wrapped his arm over her left shoulder and curled it around her right side, V studiously ignored the fact that doing so put his arm right down the middle of her chest. "Rhage, as I lift her arm, you are going to want to wrap your right arm under hers and lock it onto your left arm. She cannot be allowed to move or I will cause her more damage and pain than she already has."

V watched her face as he slowing raised her arm and noted that even as her face grew pale from pain, not an ounce of it showed on her face. He was momentarily shocked when she turned her gaze to meet his and he saw the resolve in her light green eyes and he knew that she was ready.

With her arm being as high as it could go, V paused. "Now Rhage." As soon as he saw that Rhage was locked as told, he looked back at Reigne. "I'm sorry." With that he pulled out her arm with a jerk and as her arm straightened it realigned with her shoulder and then there was the pop as it fit back in place. She made not a sound and he could only tell that it had hurt by the slight grimace on her face.

"Reigne, look at me."

She turned her head just slightly so that she could look Vishous in the eyes. "Yes, warrior?"

"Are you ok?"

"Other than the pain, yes, I am fine. Thank you for fixing my shoulder." Reigne sighed and tried to relax her tensed body, but it was not happening as long as the blonde male was holding her. "I would like to lie down please."

"Of course, my lady." Rhage very carefully moved her so that he could get out from behind her and he laid her back on the pillows.

As the blonde male left the bed, Reigne was able to finally relax, which made her more aware of her hurt shoulder. Studiously ignoring the pain, she hid her discomfort behind manners ingrained in her since birth. "Thank you, Rhage, for your assistance. I am sure my shoulder will heal much faster thanks to your helping Vishous. You are a male of worth and your _shellan_ should be very proud of you. I hope I get to meet her whilst I am here."

V had to laugh as Rhage actually blushed.

"Thank you, my lady. Once you are feeling better I would be glad to bring my _shellan_ by. I am sure you would like the company of another female instead of being stuck with V's mug for your whole stay." Hollywood ducked as V threw a pillow at him.

"Hollywood, make yourself useful would you? Go get me some ice to put on her shoulder?"

"Right, be right back." Rhage ducked out of the room still laughing.

V turned back to Reigne with a sigh. "I'm sorry about Hollywood; he is our live in comedic relief around here. If he made you uncomfortable, he did not mean to."

Reigne watch as V came over to sit on the bed next to her. "No need for apologies, he was helping and now my shoulder can heal. I just detest that I have to be taken care of like this. I swear to the Scribe Virgin that this shall never happen again."

Inwardly V flinched, as he always did at the mention of his newly revealed _mahmen_. "It is nothing to worry about. You are here for your own reasons and as such, I will take care of you as needed. Let me check your shoulder real quick. I am going to lift the sleeve of your shirt up so I can look at the skin, ok?"

"Do as you must, warrior, I trust you." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, waiting for the pain. When she felt the gentlest of touches her eyes flew open. She looked over and he was barely tracing the lines of her shoulder as well as the bruises that surrounded the area. Reigne could sense that the male was unhappy, but she did not understand why. "Is my shoulder not set properly? Is that the cause of your unease? If so, do not worry about the pain as I can handle anything you need to do."

Looking at his face she expected that to have eased his mind, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect. His mood seemed to worsen as she watched. Thinking only to calm the warrior, she reached out with her left arm and placed her hand on his that was tracing her bruises. The spark she felt at the contact made her heart skip a beat and her eyes flew up to meet his shocked stare.

V looked down at the female that so boldly touched his hand and wondered why he wasn't backing away from the contact. True, it felt nice, but Butch was the only one he really had contact with and that was only because he healed the male. Deciding that ignoring the contact was better than thinking too much on it, he looked at her shoulder and the bruises. NOT a good idea. It just made him upset all over again thinking that someone could willingly cause this much pain to a female.

"Reigne, your shoulder looks like it will heal just fine, but we still need to make sure that you do not have any other serious injuries. Before we do that, I would like you to feed again. I know it's not normal to feed twice in such a short amount of time but with how injured you are and how drained you were when we found you, I think you need it."

"Verily, I think you are correct warrior. But can it wait a little longer? I do not have the energy to sit up at this moment." Reigne closed her eyes to rest. She was beyond tired and had been scared for so long, she did not know how she was even still awake. When she felt the bed move she assumed that the warrior was going to let her rest so he was giving her some space, until she felt the bed move on the opposite side. Opening her eyes, she saw that he was settling down next to her, their legs almost touching.

"I will hold you up so that you can feed, if we wait you will only get weaker." Vishous looked uncomfortable with the closeness but waited for her response.

"As you wish, warrior."Reigne took a deep breathe to settle her nerves and looked over at Vishous. Pushing up with her left arm, she got mostly upright before she felt a hand on her back, supporting her. "Thank you."

"I'm going to sit behind you so you can lean against me." She nodded and he moved to place both of his hands on her back to hold her up as he shifted positions. He was just about to move when the bedroom door opened.

Hollywood stuck his head in the door and to his credit, did not show any reaction to the scene on the bed other than one raised eyebrow. Quickly stepping inside and shutting the door he walked over to the bed with the ice that V had requested. "Would you like me to put the ice on her shoulder? Fritz even found a bandage to wrap around the ice and her shoulder to hold it in place."

"Rhage, that would be most polite of you, but I can manage on my own." Reigne looked down at her hands, trying to hide her fear of being touched by another male. That was a scar to her soul she would have to take time to recover from.

"Hand the ice over, Hollywood." V took one of his hands off of her back to reach for the ice. "I will get this on her shoulder after she feeds again."

"Again? Has she already fed once today?"

"Verily, I am still right here. You two need not speak as if I was not." She glared at Rhage twice as hard since Vishous was behind her still. "Vishous fed me when I was first brought in from outside. Tis the only reason that I am still alive."

Rhage looked from Reigne to Vishous and back again, hoping that he wasn't hearing correctly. When he got nothing other than two separate glares he tried to be the reasonable one. "V, my man, you cannot feed her again. It is not safe for you. You have to feed first. Let me feed her if she needs it. Mary will understand if it is to save our guest and to keep you from killing yourself."

Rhage moved closer to the bed as if to sit down and jumped back almost instantly. The fear in Reigne's eyes as well as the growl coming from a worked up male was enough to make him pause. On top of the growl, his nose was telling him to back away; V was throwing of his scent that told Hollywood to stay away from the female. Looking between the two he knew he was going to lose this battle. Throwing up his hands he moved closer to the door.

"My lady, I meant no ill will towards you and I apologize for causing you fear. V, my man, think before you do anything stupid. If you do decide to feed her again, please let me call on a Chosen for you to feed." V looked like he was listening but at the mention of the Chosen Reigne's eyes jerked up to his and the fear was gone. He knew that look all too well as he had seen it countless times living under the same roof with the rest of the brotherhood. "Ok, fine, you two be stubborn and possessive, I give up. Don't come crying to me when this ends badly."

V felt immense relief once Hollywood stormed out of the bedroom, which he did storm. V expected that the whole house heard him slam the door. Now that he was gone, V started to calm down and his breathing started to even out. When the room got quiet again he realized that he had been growling at the other male, which started only with the offer to feed Reigne.

'Mine.'

He could sense that Reigne was still agitated from Hollywood's interruption, so V quickly settled himself behind her so she could lean back. Her head fit right under his chin, like it was meant to be there. Trying to calm her down, he wrapped his arms around her and held her, rubbing her arms and purring.

'Mine.'

Reigne started to relax once Vishous wrapped his arms around her and was calm within seconds of hearing his soothing purr. She remembered the spicy aroma that Vishous had given off when Rhage had tried to get closer to feed her. His reaction made no sense unless he was protecting her. She was sure that he could sense how scared she had been. She was so out of touch with how the world normally went, but the thought of her feeding from another male or Vishous feeding from another female, one was outright scary and the other set her blood to boiling. She shook her head to get the confusing thoughts to leave her be and sighed.

"Thank you again, warrior. I am sorry to cause you such trouble and I do not want you to make yourself ill to take care of me." She knew she was blushing and she was glad that he couldn't see her face.

"Female, you aren't any trouble, trust me. You need to feed as well as rest. Take my vein and after you rest for a bit we can finish looking you over for injuries." V lifted his right arm so that his wrist was available to her. "Take as much as you need, don't trouble yourself over me. I will be fine."

Reigne looked at the wrist offered to her and licked her lips. The offer made it apparent that she did need to feed again, but she worried that what Rhage had said was true. So she promised herself she would take but a little, just enough to give her a small boost and appease the warrior. She took his wrist in her hands and brought it close to her mouth, her fangs elongating in anticipation.

V had his head resting on the headboard with his eyes closed, knowing that this second feeding was going to take a toll on him, but when he thought of getting another male to feed her, his body went into protect mode and he couldn't let her go.

'Mine.'

As she brought his wrist closer to her mouth, he prepared for the strike but was shocked into opening his eyes when he felt the lightest caress on his wrist, just over his veins. Reigne had kissed him. He was still shocked over that when she did it a second time before scoring his wrist with her fangs. The pain gave way to pure pleasure as his body felt the pull at his wrist and reacted. He knew this was not the right time and was glad she was not facing him as it would only be worse if she could see his reaction to her at his wrist. Then an unwanted thought pushed its way into the front of his thoughts. What would it be like for Reigne to lie in his arms and to take from his neck, the most intimate way to feed? That thought got his body in full reaction mode which he needed to coral very quickly as she was in no way able to return those feelings. So he thought of working on his computers and such, trying to cool his jets, which didn't work at all.

She could sense what Vishous was feeling as she pulled the living energy into her body. Thoughts of what normally happened during a feeding bringing a slight heat to her body, before her fears from her capture came roaring up to take its place. Reminding herself that Vishous had not captured nor tortured her helped so she repeated that over and over again until she calmed down. Knowing she should only take a little, she indulged in the heat that she had felt moments before and thought about acting on it. Ashamed of herself for her thoughts of someone who was trying to take care of her, but was only himself reacting to the feeding, she pulled back from his wrist and licked the wounds closed.

With a sigh she rested her head back against his chest, enjoying how it felt like they were matched to fit together like two pieces of the same puzzle. "Warrior, my thanks to you again and I hope I did not cause you any discomfort."

V chuckled slightly, knowing all too well that she had cut short her feeding so as not to harm him. In truth, the fact that she was looking out for him gave him a warm feeling, one he had not felt before, but if he was going to be honest with himself, it was a feeling he would like to feel again.

"You don't have to keep thanking me every time I do something for you. I am taking care of you so just stop with the thanks. Seriously. Now you sit up and I will leave you to your rest. I will come back…" He felt her tense up then start to shake and sensed that she was terrified. "Reigne, what's the matter?"

Reigne had started shaking and she didn't understand why. She did not feel bad, but the thought of being alone had her terrified. She was so scared she couldn't respond.

Leaning around as much as he could he put a finger to her chin to turn her head so he could look into her eyes. The look of fear in her eyes coupled with her shaking had him seeing red again. He made a vow to himself to find the bastard that had scared his female so badly that she was afraid to be alone.

Thinking only to calm her down, he lightly placed a kiss on her forehead and just held her tighter. He did not know how long they sat that way, but when he noticed that she was still shaking, he was concerned that maybe more than just fear was causing the problem. As he started to move, her grip tightened on his arms, which was surprisingly strong for a female.

"Don't leave me." Reigne whispered. "Please don't leave me alone."

It broke his heart to hear the fear in her voice as she begged him not to leave her. Deciding that staying until she fell asleep would be the best choice, he sighed.

"Reigne, you have nothing to fear in this mansion. But I will stay with you if that is what you desire."

Instantly, Reigne relaxed and the shaking stopped. With a small sigh, she turned onto her left side, still with her head tucked under his chin and curled her left arm up around his left bicep. "Thank you, warrior."

Settling himself back on the headboard since she apparently didn't want to move at all, he wrapped his arms around her to keep her from rolling over and hurting her right shoulder. Thinking of that reminded him of the ice which he figured was most likely melted at this point, he mentally cussed himself for not being able to keep his mind on one topic for more than a minute.

"Reigne?"

"Yes, warrior?"

"Would you please stop calling me warrior? My name is Vishous."

She smiled to herself over the tone of annoyance in his voice. "As you wish, Vishous."

As V enjoyed the sound of his name coming from her lips, he felt her relax and her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Meaning only to wait a bit to make sure she was deeply asleep, he relaxed as well, but kept his arms around her. His last thought before he fell asleep was how right it felt to have her in his arms, where he could protect her from everything.

**Thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed the newest part of the story. I promise, they will get out of the bedroom in the next chapter…..or will they? Please please provide reviews on the story so that I know if I need to do anything differently. I take all reviews seriously, good and bad.**

**Still going at a good pace so hopefully won't be too long until the next chapter gets posted.**


	4. Cuddle Time With Vishous

**Ok, so I have just accepted that the chapters are going to be long as that is how my muse dictates them to be and I have learned that one does not argue with their should be more interactions outside of the bedroom with the other brothers and their **_**shellans.**_** There is some mild language below so beware. **

**I do not own BDB, only my few characters and interpretations. Please enjoy!**

Butch groaned as he slowly woke up. As he stretched he found that he was alone in the bed. This was the norm for him and Marissa after V healed him. She gives him his space before First Meal to clean up and get himself into a semblance of normalcy. As he sat up he noticed that he had one hell of a headache, which was a clear sign that the healing had not been fully completed this morning. Damnit, what did he miss this morning? Something major had to have happened to cut the healing short.

Getting up, he stumbled into the bathroom and got the shower running. After quickly brushing his teeth he stepped into the shower without testing the temp first. He was pleasantly surprised to find it just the perfect temp of scalding hot. As the water washed over him he felt all of his muscles relax. He started his washing routine quickly as he knew he would stand under the water until it ran cold if he didn't, which was at least an hour away. Man did he love the water heaters in this place.

Making sure that every inch was clean and allowing himself a few extra minutes under the hot spray, Butch thought back to this morning, which was mostly a fog. He remembered going out fighting with the brothers, that V was off rotation for the night and that he had taken out five slayers before Hollywood and Zsadist forced him to come home. He always hated that he couldn't finish cleaning up but he understood why they did it, even he couldn't stand the smell after he inhaled a few slayers. Again with the damn prophecy. That is why he needed V with him when he did that or at the very least easy to find when he got home.

Butch vaguely remembered coming home with the boys this morning; Rhage was nice enough to take the scenic route to drive his ass home. That was the one thing Butch hated about being a half breed, kept him from doing the cool tricks like dematerializing. He loved his ride, but he wanted to play like the big kids too. Ok, back to this morning. After he got back with Rhage, he looked everywhere for V, couldn't find him and then they were dragged into a meeting with Wrath. This is where things started to get a bit hazy, he remember Torh giving the night's report and then Wrath told them something about some female and V. He remembered needing Phury to help him out of Wrath's study and down a hall, and then it was just a hazy fog.

As he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off, he did vaguely remember getting off of a bed with Phury's help and seeing V holding hands with a female. But he didn't trust that image, because V didn't do that kind of stuff, he had his version of a red room of pain in his condo at the Commodore, which was V's style. He had been there once, but really didn't want to think about it too much. So, his plan was to go rifle through his man closet and find something nice yet comfortable, then find V and find out why his healing got botched. After he downed a glass of water with some Advil, cuz this headache was getting into killer mode.

Ten minutes later, Butch left his bedroom to go to the kitchen for the afore mentioned glass of water, then took half a bottle of Advil, well he wanted to but he behaved and only doubled the suggested dose. Putting the empty glass in the sink he headed to V's room.

"Hey, V. Wake your ass up." He walked into the room and found it missing one huge male and the bed didn't look slept in either. It looked like Fritz and his crew had literally just made the bed, which they don't make the rounds until after First Meal. "Weird. Where is he?" Turning around, he headed out of the Pit and down into the tunnel that connected the Pit to the training facility. Going into the office at the end of the hall, he went into the supply closet and entered the code, then went through the door and down another tunnel and out into the foyer of the main house. He could hear the sounds of prep for First Meal and his stomach growled.

Sticking his head in the billiards room, he found Rhage talking to Mary in the corner and Beth was trying to get Phury to play a quick game of pool, no V and no Wrath. Zsadist was always the last to come down and that was if he came down for First Meal at all. Stepping in he went over to Phury.

"Phury, hey, have you seen V yet tonight?"

Looking up from the pool table, Phury shook his head. "I haven't seen him since I helped you out of the guest room and to your room in the Pit."

"Ok, which one was it? I need to talk to him about something."

"It's the fourth room on the left." Leaning down to line up his shot on the table, he quickly looked back up at Butch. "He is probably still working on the female. She was still pretty injured when we left him last night."

"Wow, I must really have been out of it. I so don't remember the female at all."

"Really? She was lying on the bed next to you while V healed you." That statement got everyone's attention in the room. "I don't want to talk about it and you all can just ask V whenever he shows his face." With that said he took his shot and went about lining up another shot, ignoring everyone in the room.

Butch walked back out of the billiards room in silent shock. V had never even allowed anyone else to be in the room while he healed Butch before. So what was doing with his man and this female? Deciding to go check on him, he went up the staircase and started down the hall. When he got to the fourth room on the left, he paused, waiting to hear any sounds from the other side. When he heard none, he cracked the door and stuck his head inside.

The room was lit by the bedside lamps; apparently they had fallen asleep with the lights on. Stepping inside he focused on the bed and saw only one lump under the covers. Walking over, being careful to not wake the lump, he stepped up to the side of the bed. What he saw was beyond shocking. He was amazed that one, his best friend, who was so against people in his personal space was lying on his back sound asleep and the female was lying on her stomach, on top of V's chest, with her hand resting over his heart. Before he turned away from the sleeping couple, he noticed a faint glow coming from under the covers. Taking the chance of waking them up due to his worry of the female getting hurt by that hand of V's, he pulled the covers back and saw that V had his hand at the top of her back and had taken his glove off in his sleep.

Seeing the rise and fall of the female's back he breathed easier, but he was still worried. Deciding that the glow made it impossible for him to leave them be, he moved back over to the door and opened it. Knocking lightly, he hoped that he would only wake up V, but he got the opposite of his goal. His jaw dropped when he saw the face looking back at him.

Reigne looked around to find the noise that had woke her up and her eyes stopped at the bedroom door. In the doorway stood a massive male with a Red Sox cap on that so did not match the fine clothing he was wearing. As she was unable to see his face under the cap, her fears of being recaptured resurfaced and she turned to back away from him, but since she did not seem to realize she was laying on top of V, she fell off onto her right side, and yelped.

Vishous bolted upright in bed looking for Reigne. When he saw her next to him on the bed he calmed down, until he saw the tears on her face and the fear in her eyes. Following her stare, he saw Butch in the bedroom doorway. "Butch, what the fuck are you doing? Don't you knock before you enter a room?" Not waiting for an answer he turned back to Reigne.

Reaching out with his cursed hand as he was leaning on his right one, he had meant to brush the hair off of her face but noticed that his glove was missing and his palm was glowing. Looking from his hand to the female, he instantly worried about hurting her. Throwing the covers aside he found his glove and put it back on his hand.

"V, man, I…"

"Hold up, Butch." Now that V had his hand gloved again, he reached over to Reigne and brushed the hair out of her face, hair that was black like his own but lacked that blue tint to it. It reminded him of Wrath's hair with the pitch black color and hers looked to be almost as long as Wrath's too. He also noted that it was as silky smooth as it had looked when he first met her.

"Reigne, look at me." She kept staring at Butch in the doorway in fear. "Butch, take the damned hat off. She can't see your face and you are scaring the shit out of her." He said without turning around.

"Sorry, shit, sorry." There was a brief pause and then, "There, it's off."

V placed his fingers under her chin and turned her head so she was looking at him. "Reigne, look at me." When her eyes finally met his, he was momentarily lost in her green and gold gaze. They were such a light shade of green that they were almost iridescent. Her eyes reminded him of Wrath's just his didn't have the gold in them. "Reigne, there is nothing to be afraid of. That's Butch; he was the one that came in here last night for me to heal. Look at him, do you remember?"

Doing as requested, Reigne turned her gaze back to the male in the doorway and looked at his face. Vaguely she remembered his face, but as she looked closer, she said to V, "He came in reeking of _lesser_ last night, I remember that smell, I am right aren't I?"

V sighed as her body relaxed; he really didn't want to have to beat up his buddy for scaring her like that. "Yes, that is what you smelled. I will explain later." As he turned to face Butch, he felt her hand latch onto his arm, letting him know she still needed him to stay by her. With a secret smile, he moved only so that he was resting against the headboard again. With the amount of time he spent against it he should have it padded, he thought with a laugh. "Butch, stop hovering in the damn doorway. Shut the door and get your ass over here and sit. You apparently have something on your mind you want to talk about."

Butch stepped back into the room and shut the door, moving slowly towards the bed so he didn't startle the female again, he sat at the foot of the bed on V's side. As soon as he sat down, the female scooted up so that she was tucked into V's side. Looking to gauge V's reaction to it he was slightly amused. His only reaction to the female's movement was to put his arm around her and pull her in closer.

"Ok, so, Butch this is Reigne. She came to us today just before dawn and Wrath brought her inside. I have been treating her injuries." Vishous paused as he watched the male's face take on one of recognition, why does everyone keep doing that? "Reigne, this is my boy Butch, he is a fellow brother and the prophesied end to the slayers. He breaks the link between the slayer and the Omega so when the slayer dies, it truly dies. He takes the slayer's essence into himself to break the bond and I have to heal him or the Omega's darkness will kill him. This is what I did last night. Are we all on the same page now?"

Reigne nodded and leaned her head against V's shoulder. "It is a pleasure to meet you Butch. I hope you are doing better today."

Butch smiled at her. "It's an honor to meet you Reigne. And how I am doing is exactly why I came looking for this lug." He turned his eyes to V's. "Did something go wrong with the healing? I woke up with a killer headache and it has just now started to fade. That is not normal, man."

V sighed and pushed his hair out of his face. "Well, we got kind of interrupted. Reigne touched me while I was healing you and her reaction to it broke off the healing connection entirely."

Butch looked over at Reigne, shock showing over his face. "You touched him, while he was glowing, and you didn't get hurt?"

"Verily, doing so actually healed my left arm." She moved just far enough away from V's side to hold out her left arm. "See? There were bruises and scrapes all over it before and now it is like nothing happened."

"V? I thought you could only do that with me? If you can do that with her as well maybe your hand is meant to help us all out."

Vishous shook his head. "Let's not put the cart before the horse. I only healed her arm, not a full body healing like I do with you. Why are you shaking your head?

Sighing, Butch looked at his best friend. "When I came looking for you this morning, I stuck my head in here and only saw a lump on the bed, so I came in closer and saw you holding onto her while she was laying on your chest. As you saw you had pulled your glove off, but that's not all. I decided to wake you up cuz you had your hand on her back and she was all a glow from your hand down. It was like you were trying to heal her in your sleep, V. I freaked out as I have seen the destruction your hand can do, so there, that's what's doing."

Vishous looked from Butch to Reigne and then the implications hit him with brutal force. "Reigne, can I check your injuries?"

"Yes, warrior, but I can tell you my body feels much better now, except my shoulder is still tender."

V went to move and noticed that she had plastered herself to his side which caused the ice in his chest to melt just a little. He had never felt needed like this before. "Reigne, again please stop calling me warrior. Hold out your arms, let me get a look at them both."

Blushing, she did as she was told while trying to stay as close to him as possible. She may like Butch but right now she only felt safe when she was next to her warrior. "Warr...I mean Vishous, are you mated?"

Looking up from her arms, he saw the blush creeping over her face and thought it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. "No, Reigne, I am not mated. There are but two of us brothers left that are alone."

Feeling completely embarrassed, she turned her gaze from V's face and saw that Butch was trying to hold back his laughter, not sure if it was at her or something else; she decided that talking was not going to be a good idea for her right then. Focusing her gaze on the door, she tuned out what was going on around her and let her mind wander. Not always a good thing to do.

V couldn't understand why she would ask such a thing but quickly put it out of his thoughts. Looking over her arms he saw that they were both completed healed, no bruises no scrapes, nothing. Lightly pressing on the areas around her wrists where the bruising had been the worst, he frowned at the lack of reaction, but then thought it was only due to there being no pain.

"Well I guess we can chalk that up to a healing done right. Her arms and her shoulder were the only injuries I knew about and they all appear to have healed up overnight." With a relieved sigh, he let go of her arms and turned back to Butch. "Now that she is better, I guess we need to go see Wrath. You head on down for First Meal and we will be down in a little bit."

Putting his Red Sox cap back on, Butch nodded and stood up. "V, never thought I would see you playing nurse maid to anyone but me. My feelings are hurt." Dodging the pillow that was thrown at him, he laughed his way out of the bedroom.

"Reigne, I imagine you would like to shower so if you want to take care of that, I will go get cleaned up in my room and come back here for you." He turned to the female for her response, but found she was staring at the wall. "Reigne?" No response. Reaching over, he gently tugged on a strand of hair trying to get her attention, but it was like she was in a trance. He was starting to get worried about the same time the look of horror replaced the calmness on her face. He watched as her mouth opened and let out a silent scream. V was about to try something else to get her to snap out of it but just then she shook her head and started looking around the room again.

Reigne took in a deep breath and looked around the room, trying to reorient herself to her surroundings. Seeing the look of worry on V's face made her realize that she must have really zoned out. "What's wrong?"

V reached over and put his hand to her cheek. "Where were you just now? You looked absolutely terrified."

"I did not go anywhere. I was embarrassed over my question and the male's reaction to it so I decided to tune everything out while you examined me. The next thing I knew I heard my name and here we are."

"You didn't see anything? I swear I saw a look on your face of utmost horror and then you silently screamed." V looked over her face again, trying to understand what happened, but saw nothing.

"Verily, I saw nothing other than the wall and then you." Looking down at herself, she pulled off the covers. "Would it be possible to take a shower? I cannot tell you when the last time was."

Laughing, V got out of the bed and walked around to her side. Holding out his hand to her, he inclined his head behind him. "The bathroom is right behind me. Let me help you up and then you can shower and I will go to my room and get cleaned up." The look of momentary fear did not escape his notice. "Reigne, you do not need to fear anyone in this mansion. I promise. No one will come in here without knocking on the door. Ok?"

Reigne realized she was being foolish so she nodded at him as she took his hand. Swinging her legs around, she noticed that there was absolutely no more pain in her body, other than her tender shoulder. As V pulled her up off the bed, she was a little unsteady but as she balanced with his help, she felt a bit of tension leave her. Taking her hand back from V, she reached above her head and stretched as hard as she could and felt her body sigh.

"Thank you. I shall see you when you come back then, yes?" She stepped around V and headed in the direction he had pointed for the bathroom. Pausing in the doorway she looked back at him, waiting for his response.

"Yes, I shall be back here in about twenty minutes, unless you would like longer to shower. I can ask Beth for some clothes, you two are about the same height and build, if you like."

"If she does not mind, I would love some clean clothes. Thank you." With that, she turned and went into the bathroom. Thinking that he was going to leave, she didn't bother closing the door before turning on the shower and getting ready to get in.

V was about to turn to leave when he saw Reigne in the bathroom. She was standing with her back to him so he did not think she knew he was still there. He shouldn't be watching but he just couldn't take his eyes off of her. He watched as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and saw the expanse of her back, smooth and unmarred. As she started to work on her pants, he noticed that she had a tattoo along her lower back. Taking a few steps closer as quietly as possible, he saw that it was of barbed wire, and as she started to pull her pants down he saw that the tat crossed her lower back, over her hips and disappeared from sight in the front. Not wanting to get caught looking at something that was not his, he quickly got out of there and headed back to the Pit. Hoping that everyone was sitting down for First Meal and that he wouldn't run into anyone on his way there or back.

Reigne stepped into the shower and thought that it was the best feeling in the world. It had been forever since she had bathed in hot water or with any soap to clean herself with. Standing under the shower's spray, she let the water fall over her head, down to her toes and soaked in the warmth. It had been about a few weeks now that she had been feeling this unnaturally cold and thought that the water and Vishous had been the only things to warm her. Picking up a bottle of shampoo, she thought of the warrior as she lathered her hair and reveled in the tingling feeling of getting clean. After rinsing, she moved on to the conditioner and wondered what it would feel like to have V's hands in her hair instead of her own. The thought brought a smile to her face.

Now that her hair was taken care of, she picked up the soap in hopes of washing off the dirt and grime and shame of what was done to her by her captors. She was still not sure how long she and Killigan had been held prisoner as the days and nights all seemed to blur together. Not wanting to think about that, she thought of how caring the warrior had been with her since she first woke. Wondered what it would be like if they had met under different circumstances. Instead of him being forced to take care of her, if they had just met normally, would she be taking this shower by herself? Those thoughts led to others as she lathered up the soap and washed the grime away. Thinking of how it would feel to have his hands on her body brought warmth to her core that she was unfamiliar with, but made her want more.

As she kept lathering herself the pleasant thoughts turned into thoughts of her captors. She knew what came of having the warmth, she was not untouched by a male's body, but it had not been by her choosing. As she was dragged into the thoughts of what had been done to her, the fear and shame compounded on her feeling alone and her brain shut down, trying to hide from the images and memories. Within moments she was no longer in the shower, but reliving the last night before she escaped.

Vishous stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. Drying off, he noticed that he actually felt rested after sleeping with the female. He had never done that before. Dropping the towel in the laundry basket he walked into the bedroom and over to his closet. Hoping he would be allowed to go out and fight tonight, he put on his leathers, a black t-shirt and his boots. Stepping back into the bathroom he grabbed his glove and went and sat on the bed. He grabbed a hand rolled from his bedside table and grabbed his lighter. Before he was able to bring the lighter up he got a bad feeling. Thinking about how he got dragged into Reigne's dream the night before he wanted to get back to the female, not wanting to leave her alone longer than necessary. The hand rolled could wait.

Grabbing the clothes he had gotten from Beth he headed out of the Pit and down the hallway to the training facility. That sense of dread was getting worse so he picked up speed and was through the hidden door into the tunnel and out the secret door into the foyer in mere minutes. Thankfully, everyone was still eating so he was not stopped by anyone and he made it to Reigne's door uninterrupted. He knocked on the door and waited. No response. Knocking again, he started to get worried as there was still no response. He opened the door and could hear the shower still going so he relaxed a bit, figuring she was just enjoying the shower more than he had expected. Walking in, he quietly shut the door behind him and placed the clothes on the bed. Thinking to only let her know he was back and to close the bathroom door for her, he walked over to the bathroom.

"Reigne? I'm back and have clothes out here for you. Let me know if you need anything." When he got no response, the dread seeped back into him. Leaning in through the doorway so he could glance at the shower, he expected to see her standing under the water but instead found her sitting on the floor in the shower. "Reigne?" She didn't react. "Ok, I'm coming in, Reigne."

He walked over to the shower and could see her clearly through the shower door; she was sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, hugging herself. He tapped on the door, trying to give her a chance before he reached in and yanked her out of the shower. She didn't even flinch. Sliding the door open, he reached in and shut the water off and stepped in front of her. Looking down he saw the look of horror on her face and reacted to it instinctively. Reaching down he picked her up and got her out of the shower. On his way out of the bathroom he grabbed a towel so he could dry her off.

Sitting on the lounge at the foot of the bed with her still in his arms, he wrapped the towel around her as best as he could without breaking contact with her. He started to rub her back and her arms and he purred to her. Within a few minutes he felt her start to relax and she let go of her legs. Not changing what he was doing, he leaned back so she could get more comfortable as she continued to relax. He was prepared to sit there all night if that is what she needed; he was going to be there for her. After a short while, he thought she might be better lying on the bed, so he leaned forward as if to stand up and he felt her grip his shirt in her hands and a mewling sound reached his ears.

Leaning back again, he rubbed her back. "Reigne, love, come back to me. You are safe, you are in my arms and nothing is going to get you." When he felt her shaking, he got up and took her to the bed. Without dropping her, he pulled back the covers and got under them with her, shitkickers and all. Pulling the covers back up he made sure that she was covered. She was still shaking and still had her death grip on his shirt but she was quiet again. "Reigne, can you look at me?"

"Warr...warrior?" She whispered.

"Reigne, I'm here, you are safe." He tightened his hold on her, hoping it would stop her shaking, but it seemed to only make the shaking worse.

"I do not know what is going on." Reigne sounded so pitiful and she felt pitiful as she tightened her hold on his shirt and pulled closer to him. He was like her lighthouse, guiding her back to where she needed to be. She did not understand what had happened, she knew that she had been in the shower when she started remembering her last night of being captured and then she was in Vishous' arms. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

"I don't have the answers for you, but I will help you find them." Resting his chin on her head, he shifted his shoulders on the headboard. "Do you remember anything of what happened?"

Reigne shook her head, not wanting to remember, not wanting the memories to come back, afraid she would lose herself again. Feeling an ache in her legs from how tightly she had them curled up to her she stretched them down and rolled off her tender shoulder. As she had stretched out, Vishous had parted his legs to make room for hers. The movements combined had her laying on Vishous, chest to chest. She also realized that she was naked under the covers. Leaning up she looked into his ice blue eyes and before she could get lost in his gaze she looked at his mouth. Still not a good spot for her gaze to land on.

"I am sorry, warrior; I seem to keep ending up laying on you. I should get up." As she made as if to move off of him, he tightened his hold on her.

"Don't." He looked into her eyes. "I like you right where you are."

"I like it too." Again she dropped her gaze from his; it felt like he could see all the way into her soul and right now that was too scary a notion. As her gaze settled on his mouth she acted on a spur of the moment thought. Leaning up she placed a soft kiss on his full lips and settled back on his chest. As she moved, she felt something pressing into her stomach and tried to fight down the terror that came from the warm sensations that filled her.

"Reigne, love, look at me." She kept her gaze down. "Please look at me."

She took a deep breath, hoping to hide the fear in her eyes, and did as requested. When he hissed she guessed that she had not hidden anything from him.

"I will not hurt you; you need not be afraid of me." He brushed a hand across her cheek.

"It is not you, warrior. And I would rather not go into it just yet. I know I am going to have to explain my being here and that is part of it and I would rather only do it once. Can I please get dressed and then I will explain everything to you and the King?" Looking at him she just wanted to lose herself in his eyes, but she knew he had questions and he deserved answers. She just wished this little piece of joy she had found could have lasted longer before her little bubble was popped and she was alone again. She did not kid herself, she knew as soon as she told her story, that no male would want her, not V or anyone else. That thought made her heart hurt.

"Of course, I will wait but my patience has a very short life span. Just a fair warning, female." He helped her sit up but did not want to let her go. He felt like he was going to lose her if he let go. That was not something that he wanted as he had just started to feel like he could find the happiness that he had always been denied with her. Looking at her as she held the covers up to her with one hand, he was surprised as she reached out to trace the tattoo on his face around his left eye. The warning there usually kept everyone from asking about it or touching it.

Reigne relished in the feel of his skin and wished she could stay like this forever. Looking in his eyes she could still see the anger over her fear simmering below the surface, but on top of that was the shock at her touch. Smiling at him while fighting down her terror as best she could, she was not going to part from this without doing one more thing.

"Vishous, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Anything."

"I would like to try something, but I need you to be still. Please?" Her eyes searched his for the answer.

"For you, Reigne, I will be whatever you need me to be."

Taking a deep breath, Reigne moved her hand from the tattoo down to his cheek and brought up her other hand to place it on his other cheek. Turning so she was facing him again, she leaned in closer to him. A shock went through her body as their lips met. She may have experienced a male's body before but she had never been kissed in her life. She liked the sensation of his lips on hers, but it felt like something was missing.

"Vishous." She whispered against his lips.

He pulled back so he could look at her. "Was that the favor? You wanted a kiss?"

Blushing she smiled up at him. "Well, yes, I did."

"Was it what you were expecting?"

She could see the laughter sparkling in his eyes and she smiled in return. "Yes and no."

"Please tell me what you are missing, I said I would do you a favor and I don't want you to not get your full request."

"It was very nice, but it seemed like something was missing."

A thought hit V and he looked her deep in the eyes. "Reigne, have you never been kissed before?"

"Verily, warrior, the answer to that is no." She let her hands fall down to her lap in shame. "I am sorry."

Tilting her face so she was looking at him again, "Why are you sorry? There is nothing wrong with that."

"It was just something I wanted to do, can I please get dressed now?" She was feeling bad and inexperienced. That and throughout this whole time, she had been battling her fear of being touched by a male. It was starting to wear on her.

"Yes, Reigne, you can get dressed, but would you let me do one thing first?"

"What would that be, warrior?"

"I would like to give you a real kiss. There is nothing to be ashamed of for not having been kissed before, but I would like to change that if you would let me." His eyes searched her face. He could still sense the fear from earlier sitting just under the surface and he didn't want to do anything to scare her.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. "Yes."

He slowly leaned into her and kissed her lips. "Reigne put your arms around my neck." When she had done as she was told, he moved to deepen the kiss. As he brushed his lips against hers again he gently caught her bottom lip and tugged on it. "Open your mouth for me, Reigne." Again, she did as she was told and he growled low in his throat and closed the distance between their mouths. As he pressed his lips against hers he traced her bottom lip with his tongue before he ventured in to explore her mouth.

Reigne tensed at his invasion, but quickly relaxed as she found that it was quite enjoyable. Tentatively, she let her tongue brush against his and when she heard his growl she knew he liked it as well. Getting more into the kiss, she decided to explore his mouth like he was doing to her. Being uncomfortable sitting twisted in his lap, she moved to where she was completely facing him, chest to chest, her straddling his lap. She was so lost in the kiss that she was unaware of what was pressing into the inside of her thigh, until he moved his hips. The sensation that caused sent first a spike of fire down to her core that was soon overtaken by fear. She pulled back from the kiss, panting for breath, partially from fear, but mostly from the kiss itself.

Sensing her mood change, V looked into her eyes and swore under his breath at the fear he saw there. He could only come to one conclusion as to the cause of the fear based on what had been going on both times he had seen it. With a sigh, he leaned his forehead against hers, willing his body to calm down.

"Reigne, you need to get dressed so we can go talk to Wrath. I need to know why you are afraid of me all of a sudden." As she started to protest he quickly kissed her lips to silence her that was it, just a soft brush of his lips against hers. "Don't argue, female, I know fear when I see it and that is the second time you have looked at me with fear. I have seen the fear you show when other males are around you as well. You are going to tell me, this night."

Feeling like her heart was breaking, she nodded. "As you wish warrior, but I fear that you will have a change of heart after the telling." Looking into his eyes, she tried to memorize his face and the caring that she could see there, knowing that it would leave his face shortly. "Where are the clothes?"

"They are at the foot of the bed. Beth provided some jeans and a shirt for you to wear. They should fit you almost perfectly." With one last squeeze he dropped his arms allowing her to get up from his lap. "If you would like me to leave so you can dress alone I can step out into the hallway."

She looked down at herself and noticed as she leaned back that the blanket had already fallen down to her hips. Blushing, she decided to be bold and just get up and get dressed. She wanted him to see her body, she wanted him to want her and she wanted to not be afraid of the consequences. With that thought, she pushed herself to her knees and blushed deeper when she realized what ended up in his face, but before either one could react to it, she hopped off his lap and off the bed.

V was momentarily shocked into silence as he had been presented with the most beautiful pair of breasts mere inches from his face. Chuckling to himself, he expected that she hadn't thought about that before she moved. He was shocked again as she got off the bed without covering herself. He had figured with her fear that she would not want to be seen by him like that, but watching her walk to the foot of the bed, she seemed to be relishing it. He continued to watch as she picked up the jeans and looked them over, before sitting down to pull them up her legs. He had to admit, it was fun watching her get dressed and his body was definitely reacting to it as well. It was like a reverse strip show and yet more intimate somehow. When she stood up he saw that the tat went past her hips from the back.

"Reigne, can I see something before you finish with the pants?"

Trying and failing to hide her spike of fear, she looked up at him. "What?"

He moved to the side of the bed and beckoned her to come to him, which she did with a raised eyebrow. "Females are not normally given tattoos. I was wondering why you had the barbed wire going around you like that." As he looked closer, he saw that the tat didn't connect in the front but crossed over itself and the ends of the barbed wire looked almost like they were 'hooked' into the flesh where her legs met her pelvis. Looking closer, he saw that behind the barbed wire on both ends was wording inked in red, which was really not normal. Red ink was saved for ceremonial tattoos. Reaching out to trace a part of the tat, he looked up into her face. "You didn't ask for this tattoo did you?"

Frowning as she looked down at her one and only blemish, she looked back up at the warrior's face. "I would imagine about as much as you asked for yours." Before she could stop herself, she reached up to trace his tattoo again. She knew it was a warning but she still thought it was beautiful and made him all the more handsome. "It was given to me a couple years into my capture, once it healed, if I did not do as asked or answer the questions asked of me, real barbed wire would be wound around me over the ink so that as I moved it would dig into my skin." Standing there in front of Vishous with her pants still just under her hips, she felt herself being pulled back into her memories. Trying to anchor herself in the present she placed her hands on his shoulders and gripped them tight.

"Reigne? What's the matter?"

"Warrior, the memories, I can't fight them off. Do not let me get sucked back into them, please." She could hear the fear and the begging tone in her voice, but she was more afraid that he wouldn't be able to stop her memories from taking her over again.

With a hiss, he pulled her pants up for her and dragged her onto his lap. Holding her tightly to him, he was helpless to keep her there with him. When she hissed in pain he looked at her face. "Reigne?"

Another hiss. "I can feel it, warrior. I can feel the barbed wire being wrapped around me. Each little prick of the wire, make it stop. Oh I can feel the hands putting the wire on me." She bit her lip to keep from crying out at the memory. "Please make it stop."

Vishous watched as she bit her lip again, this time cutting through her lip with her fangs. He had no idea what to do to bring her back to him. Reacting purely on instinct he leaned over and licked her chin of the blood from her lip and then sucked on her lip before licking it to close the wounds. At her sigh, he pulled her body closer to his and kissed her again, hard.

She moaned at the contact of her chest against his shirt and began to kiss him back. As the memory of the pain and the person causing it faded from her thoughts, she knew only one thing, Vishous was her anchor and she did not think she would survive this without him. Sending a silent prayer to the Scribe Virgin for her visions that brought her here, she kissed him back with everything she had. Memorizing every touch, caress and sound of the moment, knowing that it may be the last time he would want to kiss her.

Pulling back from the kiss, she smiled at Vishous and caressed his face. "Thank you warrior.' She saw him about to correct her again and put a finger to his lips, silencing him. "Vishous, I do not know what I would have done just then without you. That was quite a way to bring me out of the past."

Gently lifting her off his lap, he set her on the floor between his legs. "Well, it was a reaction to you biting your lip and it just went from there. What can I say? You have a very kissable mouth and I enjoy kissing it." He smiled at her. "Now get dressed before I try to kiss other parts of you that are right in my face."

Laughing through her small spike of fear, she stepped back and snapped the button closed on the pants. Picking up the shirt, she realized that this kind of closeness was something she had been missing for most of her life. Now that she found it, she was loath to give it up. Knowing that she had to be honest and he needed to know what had happened to her as much as Wrath did, she resolved herself to being brutally honest, knowing the only one that was going to be hurt by it was herself.

Pulling the shirt over her head, she headed into the bathroom. She could feel Vishous' eyes on her the whole way. Closing the door behind her, she looked herself over in the mirror. She looked the same, better actually than she had in a very long time. The dark circles were gone from under her eyes and she didn't look like she was wasting away and beaten. It had been so long since she felt this good that she had forgotten what it was like to feel healthy. Picking up a brush, she pulled it through her damp hair and thought about getting it cut. She liked it long but in the past it had been used as a weapon against her and she did not want that to happen again. Once her hair was brushed and shiny again, she looked at the clothes she was given. They were a simple pair of jeans that fit her thighs nicely and hugged her hips just below her belly button. The shirt was simple too, a beautiful shade of green and it was form fitting. She had to admit, she liked the way she looked or maybe she just liked being free again.

V waited patiently in the bedroom, knowing she would need some time to herself to take care of personal things and gather her courage for the upcoming meeting with Wrath. He had an idea of some of the things she was going to tell them and he already knew that his reaction was going to be outrage, but he wanted to keep calm so as not to get her worked up or to scare her. The first time that she had pulled back from him with fear in her eyes had caused him so much pain. He didn't know why for sure, but he knew that he never wanted to see that fear again. Not of him or anyone else in the house.

He was about to check on her when he heard a knock on the door. Getting up, he went over to the door and opened it. Rhage was standing out there dressed for a night of fighting and had his arm draped around his _shellan's_ shoulders. "Hollywood, Mary. What's doin?"

Rhage smiled at V. "I told Reigne I would bring Mary by for them to meet, so here we are. Is she up for company?"

Looking back toward the bathroom and seeing the door still closed, he shook his head. "She's getting ready for her meeting with Wrath. She should be out in a few minutes though."

Mary looked up at Vishous with a knowing smile. "I am glad you are taking care of her Vishous. She is in good hands and so are you."

Rolling his eyes, V had to laugh. All Mary wanted was for all the brothers to be as happy as Rhage. He just didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't in his deck of cards. He didn't do happy in love, he wouldn't have a clue how to act or behave. He knew domination and submission, that was it.

"How about we come find you when the meeting is done? If she is up to it I mean."

Mary looked at Rhage and he nodded. "That sounds like a great idea. I hope the meeting goes well and is not too hard on her."

V stood in the doorway and watched the two love birds go down the hallway, most likely to the billiards room so Rhage could play with the popcorn machine. He could hear Fritz now worrying about the poor machine. Chuckling he closed the door and waited for Reigne to finish up in the bathroom. As he turned around, he found her standing in the doorway of the bathroom, watching him. While he watched her walk towards him, he saw her expression go from vulnerable to hard resolve, and he had to admit that he was proud of her. She knew she was going to be vulnerable while telling them what had happened, but she was going to tough her way through it.

She stopped in front of him and looked into his eyes, trying to read what he was thinking, but she could see that he was ready to hear whatever she had to say. She wished there was a way to draw on his strength, because right now she felt like a little girl about to go tell her _mahmen_ that she had broken something while playing. But this was not just about telling her story; it was also about connecting with the only family she had left.

V reached out and brushed her hair off of her shoulder and smiled. "You look beautiful." Sighing, he pulled her in for a quick hug. "I wish I could tell you that you didn't have to do this, but we have to know why you came here and how you found us."

Enjoying the hug, Reigne wished she could stay there forever. "Do not worry, warrior. You deserve to know what has happened and how I came to be here." Stepping back, she leaned up to place a kiss on his goateed chin. "I will admit something but only to you, my warrior. I have enjoyed my stay here with you, but I fear that after this meeting, everything will change."

V looked into her eyes, looking for an explanation. "I don't understand your fear, but I will let you in on a little secret myself. I have enjoyed our time together as well and that says a lot for me. I'm fairly certain that we will be able to have more time afterwards, nothing should change."

Smiling sadly to herself, Reigne pulled out of his arms. "You do not understand yet, but you will." She put her hand up to keep him from talking. "Let's not argue, it is what it is and you will soon see why. Let us go meet with the King."

V was now getting worried about what she was going to tell them, but reminded himself that he already had a few ideas. He admired her resolve, but he still wanted to protect her from her past. Wanting to get this over with, he opened the door for her and followed her out into the hallway and almost ran into Mary.

"Sorry Mary." He said as he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling over. "Did Hollywood break something already?"

Laughing, Mary shook her head. "No, Wrath sent the guys out early tonight since there was so much activity last night. I was just heading back to our room to grab a book to read."

"Ah, well I guess I will be joining them later." Stepping to the side, he placed an arm around Reigne's waist. "Mary, I would like to introduce you to our guest, Reigne. Reigne, Mary is Rhage's _shellan._"

Reigne stepped forward and took Mary's hand in her own. "Mary, it is a pleasure to meet you. You must be so proud of your _hellren_, he was a big help to Vishous this morning with setting my shoulder. I do not think that it could have been done without him."

Mary giggled. "That's my male, always the helper, if he isn't too busy goofing around or trying to charm the ladies off their feet. I am glad he was able to help out, truly. Now I understand you have a meeting with Wrath, so if you want to talk or just want some girl time, come find me afterwards. I have to admit it is rather exciting having another female in the house."

Reigne smiled warmly at the female as she stepped back next to Vishous. "I would like that very much. I hope you enjoy your reading."

"Later V." Mary looked him in the eyes after pointedly looking at his arm around Reigne's waist. Smiling, she walked off in the direction of her room.

"She is very nice, Rhage is a lucky male." Looking in the direction that Mary went, she leaned closer to V. "I know the brothers get special privileges but I did not know that one could mate a human." At the look on V's face she went on. "Now don't look at me like that, I only know what the laws were before I was captured and back then it was no interaction at all between the two races. It matters not to me. She seems like a fine female of worth and completely in love with her _hellren_. That is the way it should be."

Deciding to get them to the meeting, V pulled her along with him down the hallway. "Rhage and his Mary, she really is something else, she tamed the beast." At her look of confusion he had to laugh. "You can ask her about that later, right now, you should meet the male that truly saved you this morning."

When they stopped in front of the study doors, he could feel her getting nervous. Pulling her into his side, he tried to comfort her. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Wrath is not as bad as people may have told you."

She took a deep breath and nodded to him and watched as he knocked on the door.

Wrath had been sitting in his study, trying to focus on the paperwork in front of him, but was already getting a searing headache from straining to read the papers with the magnifying lens. It didn't help that his _shellan_ was sitting in the chair next to his with her long legs in his lap. It was too tempting to ignore the papers and just enjoy every inch of her long legs.

As his hands started to drift off the desk, he had to remind himself that he was waiting on V to bring the female in for their meeting. Butch had talked to him at First Meal and told him that the female was healed and ready to talk. He was still trying to figure out why she seemed so familiar to him and on top of that, he needed to know how she found them. With V's _mhis _surrounding the compound, she should have not been able to get within a mile of the outer gates and yet he found her in the damn courtyard.

"Stop worrying about the female. If she sees you frowning when she gets here I bet she won't say a word. You can be quite intimidating when you frown like that. Just makes me want to kiss you until the frown disappears."

Wrath looked at his female and smiled. "Sounds like a good idea to me." With that she found herself straddling his lap and his mouth on hers.

Beth put her whole heart into taking that frown off his face. She didn't like seeing him worry like that and she had not been lying. Anyone who did not know her mate would be scared to death if they had him frowning at them like he had been. There were times she thought that he did it on purpose.

Breaking from the kiss to catch her breath, she reached up to pull his shades off. "See? No more frown. Now all I see is love and happiness on your face."

"My _leelan_, I would love to continue this but I think we are about to be interrupted." He chuckled as she pouted and set her on her feet next to his chair. He was just putting his shades back on when he heard the knock on the study doors. "Here we go." He willed the doors open and waited for V and the female to walk in.

Reigne watched as the doors swung open unassisted and took a deep breath. She felt like she was in a dream, but then again she had dreamed about this meeting for months now, longer than she had about her escape. Stepping into the doorway, she felt Vishous move to stand right behind her, guarding her. Looking in the room she saw the desk and the two people behind the desk. The Blind King was very intimidating even sitting down, which she was glad for, this was going to be hard enough without him towering over her the whole time. To his right, stood a female, she assumed it was his _shellan_. Taking a moment to look them over, she noticed that while Wrath was looking at the doorway, only the female looked confused by who stood in the doorway.

Walking into the study, V still right behind her, she walked over to stand in front of the desk.

Vishous stepped up next to Reigne and after giving Beth a questioning look, he made the introductions. "Wrath, let me introduce you to Reigne, the female we rescued this morning. Reigne, this is Wrath, the King and by his side always is his Queen, Beth."

Reigne inclined her head in greeting to Beth and bowed before Wrath. As she straightened, she heard a sharp intake of breath from the Queen. Smiling, she figured that the similarities were blaringly obvious now that the two of them were in the same room. Standing tall in front of the desk, she looked at Beth and nodded.

Beth from Reigne to Wrath and back again, the resemblance was beyond scary. Reigne looked like she could be Wrath's daughter, but he had said that he didn't have any young. So how could this be? It was too much to take in all at once. She sat in her chair before her legs gave out and covered her mouth, "Oh my God!"

Wrath turned to Beth and took her hand. Looking back to the female before him, he tried again to figure out why she seemed so familiar. Giving up, he was just going to be blunt. "Reigne, do we know each other?"

"Verily, my lord, yet we have never met before."

"If we have never met, than why do I feel like I already know you?" He sensed a headache coming and sighed.

"There is a very simple explanation for that, my lord." Taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders, she decided now was as good a time as any to answer his question. Sensing that Vishous was still right beside her, she stepped closer to him and his presence gave her strength, she needed all she could get knowing this was going to be a rough conversation. "My lord, the reason I seem so familiar to you is because we are cousins."

**I just want to say thank you again for reading my story. This one is proving to be a lot of fun to write. As promised, V and Reigne did make it out of the bedroom, finally. Please push the little lonely button at the bottom and send me a review. I am dying to know what you guys think of my story.**


	5. Family Relations

**Ok, so I apparently do not have an off switch for my muse. He just keeps feeding me line after line and I lose sleep and more sleep. I have to say though I am enjoying writing this so much that the lack of sleep doesn't phase me, until I have to go to work**_**.**_

**I do want to give massive thanks to my beta Bruja1775; she has put in so much time helping me keep this true to the Warden's creations.**

**There is some mild language below so beware. No good lemony scenes yet, and you get the full onslaught of Reigne's past. This is your only warning, it's not pretty.**

**I do not own BDB, only my few characters and interpretations. Please enjoy!**

"Cousins?!" Wrath all but shouted. "If we're truly cousins, why haven'twe met?Why didn't I know that you were out there until today?"

"The curse of the twins, sire. My parents hid my sister Killigan and I away, they feared the curse so they hid us hoping to avert it. We were never permitted out past the house, so anyone outside the occupants of the keep never knew we existed. If I remember correctly, we were born nine years after you; however, due to an agreement our parents made, all contact was supposed to be severed until we went through our transitions. They hoped that if we survived our transitions, then the curse would be broken and we could return to court with the first family. But before any of their plans could transpire, the attack on your household occurred and then not long after that, our parents were slaughtered. In the end, their intent of bringing our families back together was delayed."

From the quickly changing emotions moving across her cousin's face, she could tell that he was at war with himself with whether or not to believe her claim. "My lord, I beseech you to hear my explanation before I lose my courage. However, before I begin, may I ask a question first?"

Sighing, Wrath was trying to calm down, but the last few minutes were making it hard for him. "To start with, I think we can get rid of the 'My Lord' bullshit. If what you're saying is true, then there's no need for anything other than my name, which I'd rather to be honest. Now what's your question?"

"As oddly as this may sound...in what year do I find myself?"

"2013."

"20…13. That means... they had me for... OH BLESSED VIRGIN SCRIBE!"

Feeling as though all the air was sucked out of her lungs, Reigne felt as though the room was closing in on her. As her legs began to give out, she expected to find herself sprawled out on the floor, but instead, she found herself safely cradled in her warrior's arms. All she currently had the strength to do was rest her head on his shoulder and hope that he would not let go.

Ignoring the looks that he was getting from Wrath and Beth, V sat down in the closest chair to the front of Wrath's desk with Reigne still in his arms. "Reigne, are you ok?"

"No, warrior, verily I am not." Reigne's whispered words were heard between her deep breaths as she looked back at Wrath and hid her depression of so many lost years. "Forgive me, but when one learns that they have missed over three centuries of their life, it is more than just a momentary shock."

Feeling sorry for the female and her _hellren_, Beth beat Wrath to a question that had been nagging at her. "Reigne, I know it is not polite to ask, but how old are you?"

"My lady, ask what you wish because I was going to ask your _hellren_ the same, but to answer your query, I am 340 years old."

"Please, we're laid back here, so like Wrath, none of the 'My Lady' crap. We're all family here so please call me Beth. But I am a bit confused about how you don't know how old you are before asking what year it was."

Regardless of Beth's ease, she wanted to address her properly. She was after all the Queen. Trying to sit up straight, she found herself held firmly in place by Vishous' arms. "Warrior, please let me up." When his hold refused to ease up, she tried again."Warrior, please... aid me in sitting up so that I do not appear to cower in your arms." Figuring that he did not respond because of what she called him, she tried again."Please Vishous?"

No matter what she called him, he found it hard to loosen his grip on her. The look on her face when she started to fall was stuck in a loop playing in his head. He hated that look and the more he thought about it, the tighter his arms got.

Seeing the far off look in Vishous' eyes, made her wonder what he was thinking about. Continuing her attempt to get his attention, she reached up and placed her hand on his face; but when her finger tips grazed the tattoo on his temple, she felt a spark from the skin-to-skin contact. For just a moment she saw a disturbing sight through his eyes…her own face as she began to collapse, then felt his fear for her when he caught her.

Show more

"Warrior?"

Feeling the spark of her little fingers on his face brought V out of his thoughts enough to almost snarl a "Please don't call me that" at her. His sudden reaction caused an almost giggle to erupt from her before catching herself in time to ask again, "Vishous, could you please aid me in sitting up if you are unwilling to remove me from your lap?"

Hearing chuckles from the peanut gallery, he adjusted her so that she was sitting up comfortably in his lap, but she was right, for some reason he couldn't let her go.

Feeling slightly embarrassed about her unusual seating arrangement, she tried to hide the feeling so she could talk to her cousins' _shellan_. "Beth, my sister and I were captured years before our transitions and the only time we were allowed outside the confines of our brick walled cells were when we were coming over from the Old Country. Sadly, I could not even tell you when that was. The days blurred into weeks, weeks into years, and years into centuries."

"Reigne, you mentioned Killigan twice now. Why isn't she here with you?" Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk, Wrath patiently waited for her response.

"Killigan sacrificed herself so that I could escape. Although she was aware that only one of us would most likely make it out alive, she decided that since she was second born it should be was not very often that we were lucid together without supervision or guards of some kind to speak freely, but I tried so very hard to change her mind at every possible moment." Shame rolled through her body like a tidal wave; the urge to break down and cry was strong but the last thing she needed to do was bring more shame on herself by being weak. Taking a deep breath and grabbing onto V's hand, she continued.

"I told her about my visions, of where I would end up and she knew that I only saw myself in them, she was not with me. So Killigan went about her plan to set me free...regardless of the cost to herself."

Leaning back in his chair, Wrath felt his day going from bad to worse. Rubbing his eyes from under his shades hoping to avert the oncoming headache... or maybe it was heartache, from learning that he gained two cousins only to learn that he lost one. It was enough to shake even him a bit. His poor _shellan's_ heart was breaking for the up, Wrath walked around his desk to the female still planted in V's lap. Reaching out for his cousin's tiny hand, he sensed rather than saw the aggression that caused V to curl his lip back from his elongating fangs.

Stunned by the unusual reaction that normally came from a bonded male; he tried to ease the normally laid-back male's disposition. "Vishous, you can let her go now. Nothing is going to hurt her and really, do you think to protect her from her own family?"

Continuing to quietly hiss, he remembered the dream that he was pulled into that showed the male responsible for Reigne's torment. The dream gave him his own answer... HELL YES he'd protect her from her own that Wrath wouldn't hurt her didn't change anything; he still didn't like pulling his arms back from her. Seeing that she had a hold of his cursed hand again, he mentally cursed and tried to pull his hand back, hopefully, without Wrath seeing. That thing was the bane of his existence; regardless if it was gloved or not, he was still afraid that it'd hurt her.

Feeling the safety of Vishous' arms fall away sent a shiver straight through her; however, her attention quickly returned when she noticed the outstretched hand in front of her. The outstretched hand that belonged to Wrath, the races' King, but more importantly, it belonged to her cousin... her blood. Taking a deep breath she placed her hand in his and was pulled to her feet; bringing her closer to him so he could look her over, seemingly taking a mental inventory of her and any injuries.

"Reigne, I believe you. I can sense that you are telling the truth. Besides that... the non-stop babbling from the males that have seen you, all say the same thing; that besides the hair, it's the eyes that give you away as being a part of my bloodline. Of course the fact that I can feel it in my blood that we know each other …and I want you to get checked out by Havers, our races healer, just to make sure that you are alright." Glancing at Vishous, he added, "I have complete trust in your medical abilities and everything that you've done for her V, but I just want her to go as a precaution. Just to make sure there isn't something that we're missing that modern technology can catch."

"Reigne, I hope that we will be having a lot of long talks. I want to know everything about you and the part of my family I didn't know existed."

With a small smile on her face, Reigne tried to remember if this closeness was what 'family' was supposed to feel like. "Of course. I am looking forward to the same and will gladly answer any questions that you have, as long as you are willing to do the same."

Beth was practically bouncing in her chair for them to finish so she could add her two cents in. "My god Wrath, the guys are completely right. There's absolutely no way that you two aren't related... hell, you look like the two of you could be twins!" Laughing at the stunned look on Wrath's face, she left her seat to walk over to the cousins. Reaching up to her _hellren_, but instead of going to kiss him, she suddenly pulled the sunglasses from his face, earning a growl from him."Oh hush you. I want to look at something...come on Wrath, open your eyes. There's only family here remember?"

Wrath growled again, but did as his mate requested. He was a typical bonded male, if his mate asked him for something; he would give it to her without hesitation as long as it didn't jeopardize their safety. Slowly opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Beth's face and the wonder she held; it didn't matter that it was blurry, his _shellan_ was always beautiful. Looking to his left, the figure was still blurry, but what he was able to see shocked him to his core. The family resemblance was...amazing. Without his sunglasses blocking the vibrancy of colors, he could see exactly what the brothers did when they saw her. They had the same long jet-black hair that fell from a widow's peak, the same aristocratic nose, and her eyes...they were his father's eyes; light iridescent green with gold circling the pupils. The same eyes that he thought they'd have to have young in order to see looking back at him again.

Stuck speechless, he barely heard Beth mutter a 'wow', as she would look back and forth between him and Reigne. She was right, this female looked enough like him that she could be his twin or back, he remembered his _mahmen_ had conceived another young; his sire said that he was worried about her stress so he sent her to stay with his sister. When she came home, they said that the young died...they wouldn't have hidden siblings from him would they? Unfortunately, that was one question that he'd never get an answer to.

Looking into Wrath's eyes, Reigne saw her sisters' eyes looking back at her. Her mahmen had always said that her brother and nephew had the same eyes, but to see it for herself brought her the amazed looks on his and his _shellan's_ face made this all seem so real instead of just a dream. In the back of her mind she had always feared that even with the resemblance she would be turned away. She was so overwhelmed and excited by the response that she began to feel light headed again. With her free hand, she reached blindly behind her to her warrior for support and was not left wanting. She sighed as he took her hand.

Looking from Reigne to Vishous, Wrath wondered what had happened between them in such short time for the brother to be that perceptive. Whatever it was, he resolved to keep an eye on the two, and then decided to act out of character for himself. Before going to sit back down, he yanked his cousin, his blood relation, into a tight hug. Wrapping her in his arms, he felt their connection sing in his blood, a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time. He knew right then, that he'd do anything to protect her.

Stepping back from the embrace, he watched as she sat back down in V's lap without thinking about it. Mentally shaking his head at the both of them, he put his hand out for his _shellan_ and went back to his seat. Pulling his mate into his lap, he took his shades back from her and put them on. "You didn't come down for First Meal this evening. Aren't you hungry Reigne?"

"Yes, she is hungry. Besides blood, she hasn't had anything to eat since she got here." Vishous answered for her.

Chuckling, seeing the brother acting so out of character was actually…fun; maybe it was time to get some payback for all the shit V put him through with Beth in the beginning, he spoke up. "Vishous, since you've been taking care of her, I'm sure you're hungry too. Why don't you go down to get the both of you some food. I'm sure there's some chicken left over to make a good meal; not to mention that it'd probably be easy on her stomach."

For a moment, V was struck stupid, with absolutely nothing snappy to come back with. He knew she had to be hungry, but why didn't Wrath just call and have Fritz bring something up? The expectant look on Wrath's face told him that he wasn't getting out of it...and she did need to eat, so he nodded and stood her up, putting her on her feet before turning to leave.

Enjoying the rare chance to give the brother shit, he quickly added, "Reigne, would you mind staying? I'd like to talk to you some more." Trying not to laugh from the look on V's face, Wrath started coughing to hide the laugher that was bubbling up. Feeling the elbow shot to his ribs let him know that Beth knew what he was doing. "You really don't mind bringing her food, do you V?"Beth's next well placed rib-jab was well worth the look on V's face.

Ready to blurt out a comeback, he quickly clamped his mouth shut and pulled out a hand rolled and lit it with his gold lighter; all without releasing Reigne's hand. With a last look to make sure she was ok, he reluctantly dropped her hand. "Fine…whatever. Gives me a break anyway." He would have slammed through the door but it opened before he got there.

Silently snickering to himself, he waited for the brother to leave before he looked back at confused Reigne. "That was nice of you to open the door for him." At the look on her face he explained himself. "Don't worry about V; he's usually in some kind of mood. He's acting WAYYYY more out of character than normal, so I had to give him shit. After everything he put me through before Beth and I were mated, I have to have some fun with him...after all, with this group, we should've had 'Karma's a bitch' carved into our cave walls." Laughing, he motioned for her to sit back down.

"Would no longer tending to me be easier for him? I truly do not wish to be a hindrance. However, do you want that I continue accounting the events or would you prefer I wait until he returns?"

"Let me counter that by asking what you think would be easier on him?"

"I am unsure. He appeared to enjoy my company earlier; I am unsure whether the knowledge of my captivity would be difficult for him...and I don't want to hurt him." Looking at her hands, she could still feel the ghost of the warrior's arms around her. There were so many things that she did not know about him; but, of course, there were many things that he did not know about herself as well.

"Do you like him?" Beth asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you like him?" Beth asked again.

"I like him well. However, he is a male of worth; something that I no longer deserve. I am too scarred to be of worth anymore. After you hear about our ordeal, you will most likely agree with me."

Beth shared a look with her_hellren_ and he nodded, they seemed to have a complete conversation with each other without speaking. "O…k…well, we'll talk about that later. Would you like to tell us what happened or do you want to wait for Vishous?"

With her question turned back on her, Reigne could just look at Beth, unsure exactly how to answer.

Down in the kitchen, after shoo'ing poor Fritz out of the way, V went through the fridge, pulling out the chickenfrom earlier with some rice and fruit; figuring that it'd be ok for Reigne's adapting stomach. Since he missed First Meal too and was starving, he quickly got down two plates and spread out the food. Slicing off some chicken, he inspected each piece before placing the best pieces on the plate for Reigne with a pile of rice; the rest of the chickenand rice went on his. Looking through the fruit, he saw kiwi, strawberries and some mangos. Picking out the ripest pieces for her, laying them neatly on her plate before throwing the rest his.

After putting away the leftovers, he leaned back against the counter, finishing his slow-burning hand-rolled and studied his handiwork. Not bad for the first time making a female a plate, he thought to himself. Glaring at his reflection in the window, he rolled his eyes and mentally asked himself, what the hell was wrong with him? All he could think about was that female and getting back to her. He wasn't that male... he preferred his gadgets and the occasional romp with a female tied up at his penthouse. But this...no. He was the one that gave the bonded males in the house shit over how they were with their females. So...what the hell was wrong with him? NEVER did he think that he'd be one of them. No female deserved to be saddled with his fucked up ass. And what was up with Wrath sending him down for food like a doggen. There had to be something doin' or Wrath wouldn't have worked so hard to get him out of the room.

"Fuuucckkk." He should just take her food to her and then go out on patrol. All this shit had him tense enough to spring and poofing _lessers_ was a great release. Then he remembered the promise he made to Reign and the stuff that female had been through already and all thoughts of going out were quelled. Damn him and his verbal diarrhea! Spouting shit he had no reason to say.

Grabbing the plates he headed back up to the study so that he could finish what he started. Damn. Right about now he was glad that the brothers had already left so they wouldn't see him playing fetch. He'd never live that shit down.

The idea of having to relive the hell that she had lived through made Reigne feel like a caged animal. No matter how much she paced or tried to breathe deeply, it did not seem to help the feelings going through her. She knew that her time was up and it was time to tell her was only a matter of where to begin?

"I believe the beginning is the best place to start. When Killigan and I were young, we were told the legend regarding the curse of the twins; a curse that would send either one or both young unto the fade, causing a great grief to the young's parents to test their faith to the Scribe Virgin and her father. As you know, the birth of live twins in our race is very rare and although only a legend, they were not about to put the lives of their young forward to test the validity of it. They thought if no one knew we existed, and then outside threats were one less thing to worry about, so they hid us away; praying that their actions would keep us we grew, our _mahmen_ and sire would tell us bedtime stories of the First Family and their lives in court and how we were little princesses and would one day be reunited. I never understood it, but the more I learned, the greater the feeling of emptiness within me grew. It was as if I was uncompleted or something was meant to be , I digress. Regardless of the possibility of the curse, _Mahmen_guaranteed that Killigan and I were educated in dailyand royal matters, ensuring that we knew what to expect later in our lives. Unfortunately, she didn't teach us how to survive without them though."

Pacing back and forth in front of the desk, she wiped a tear from her eye. "We were thirteen when the attack that killed the King and Queen occurred. You were lost and presumed dead. When the messenger arrived with the news of the fate of the first family, _mahmen_ did not want to hear about being heir apparent or the throne. She was so distraught that she just wanted to be left alone withher remaining family to grieve. In the course of her grief, she became almost frantic in keeping us safe, fearing that our household would be next. Four moons later, our parents and household were slaughtered. It was during this time that our uncle came to stay with us, under the guise of visiting his brother, when the attack transpired. It was a morning just like any other, I was preparing for slumber when I first heard the commotion above stairs. Just like any curious young, I snuck upstairs to see what occurred; that is when I viewed my parents on the floor. I remember running to them, screaming for them to awaken, but uncle pulled me away, telling me they had gone unto the fade, and that there was nothing to be done, but if I did not flee with him, I would join them. I still remember the smell of blood, smoke, and powder that clung to the air that day. Little did I know that it would be my last bit of freedom for centuries."

"Uncle took us to his home and shut us into a small room with a locked door. We were so distraught from the loss of our parents and still in shock that we were not aware as to what was transpiring until it was too late. Possibly a full phase of the moon passed since we had lost our parents, when I began noticing that we were being treated like prisoners and not family. Our lives continued that way until we shocked uncle by our transitions beginning a full five years early, which I overheard his healer commenting was possibly due to stress; but since such an early transition was unheard of, he was uncertain. Once our transitions were completed and the healer deemed us healthy, that is when everything changed."

Staring down at her body, thoughts of those days passing sent a shiver down her spine. That was when freedom was only a memory from the past...something that would never exist again. Resuming her trek, she almost ran into Vishous when he returned with their food. Miraculously, instead of crashing into his large body, she managed to sidestep him and continue pacing, her mind still lost in the past.

Frozen still in the hallway, Vishous listened to every word said. Hearing very clearly the pain that she tried to keep buried and her resolve exposed everything. For the first time in a long while he could admit to feeling like an ass; not just for his previous thoughts, but for also not being in there for her. Stepping through the door, he almost got ran over, but it was like she didn't even seem to see him, other than to go around him. Worried, he hurriedly placed the plates on the desk and turned to go to her until he caught the shaking of Wrath's head from the corner of his eye. Raising an eyebrow in question, Wrath just shook his head again and pointed to a chair.

Taking the cue but not liking it, he sat down and followed the slow fluid movements of the female with his eyes. She was so lost in thought that she suddenly stopped pacing and stared at the wall. The urge to comfort her was almost overwhelming, but since he was ordered to sit, he was forced to watch the struggle happening inside of her as she fought her way back from her memories.

Pacing again, he could tell Reigne's consciousness wasn't fully in the room, but somewhere else, luckily, she was aware enough to continue her story. "Unexpectedly, a few days out of our transitions, Uncle sent for us. This was not unusual since we were summoned at random for no reason. We always obeyed, only to be told if we continued to behave then nothing would change and he would ensure to have males at hand whenever we needed to feed. Confused about our treatment, we acted ignorant as he recited what we already knew about the curse of the twins; reminding us that most young and/or females do not survive pregnancy and the birthing process, leaving the males either lost without their mates, young or sometimes they lost them both. With this in mind, he enjoyed speaking of the constant fear that our parents lived in. Their fear made them and us easy targets to conquer and destroy."

"Hearing him speaking as if our loss were nothing broke Killigan. Although they taught us of our birthing orders, we always were treated as equals. I am older than Killigan by only a few minutes and because of this, as time passed, Killigan was willing to be kept and not fight. From the beginning of our ordeal, she was always convinced that, as second born, it occurred because of the curse of the twins. Regardless of how many times I tried to tell her that it had nothing to do with her and this was all because uncle was an evil male, she still refused to listen. Unable to watch my twin suffer her ill-placed guilt, I decided that it was time we found out why we were being held."

"Deciding to bide my time, I obeyed as ordered; all the while searching for ways out of the house and what exactly transpired. One night, possibly nine or so years after our transition, I was finally able to sneak out of my room. As usual, the doors were locked, but I taught myself to will the locks open and such. So I waited until I assumed uncle and his staff went to rest for the day, then left the room and went to the main floor to look around. As I came down the stairs, I heard male voices coming from the study; suspicious to their late night gathering, I crept closer, hoping to gain any type of information. By the Virgin...I learned more than I cared to. I discovered that my uncle, my blood relation, had my parents slaughtered in cold blood so that he could lawfully take dominion of the last two royal young. I am unaware who he was speaking with, but they were aware of details that only those responsible would know. They even referenced information regarding a doggen in the first family's household that they 'persuaded' into helping _lessers_ gain access into the property."

Everyone but Reigne heard the bloodthirsty growl erupting from Wrath. Reigne was too lost in the past to realize that she had just given Wrath the information that he'd been craving for centuries regarding who brought about the death of his parents. Continuing to pace, the next part was memories that she wished she could forget and began wringing her hands in agitation.

Completely oblivious to Beth trying to calm Wrath down, whatever blood tie they shared as family allowed her to feel and relate to the pain and fury that he was experiencing. Unfortunately, currently nothing could be done at that time and they did not want to interrupt Reigne; they needed the knowledge and information that only she had. Wrapping her arms securely around her male, Beth tightly held onto him; letting him know she was there for him as always.

Vishous wasn't really paying attention to the growling King, he was worried more about Reigne and where her head was. She was still pacing and staring off into the distance. But when she passed by his chair, he saw the tears on her face, and his instincts screamed at him to grab her and wrap them in a cocoon to make her pain stop, but he knew that he couldn't; she had to get through this. They all needed to know why everything had happened and who her uncle was. The sound of Wrath's growling seemed to fade into the background as his worry for Reigne increased; praying to a mother he hated to acknowledge, he hoped that she'd come back enough to finish her story.

All eyes seemed focused on Reigne as she paced. No one made any noises, moved, or breathed for fear of breaking Reigne's courage since they all could sense the pain and terror she was reliving. They were doing their part to keep the retelling of her own hell from being worse.

Staring off into space, Reigne's movements seemed to stop as she relived those moments when her situation changed. Seemingly unaware of her actions, she began talking again, trying to distance herself from the memories, speaking neutrally as one would read a boring book out loud. Her greatest fear was that her mental distancing would not work.

"I stood just outside the study, listening to every word they spoke while trying to ensure that I was not seen. They seemed excited, speaking of something that had been found in my family's home that made the trip and eliminating my parents worth it. It was around the time they began speaking about Killigan and me when Uncle noticed that I was there. To ease his suspicions, he fed us both regularly so that if we escaped he could locate us. Unfortunately, it backfired on me and he could sense that I was just outside the room. That event changed everything for not just me, but Killigan too. Since early in our young lives, she was always the pacifist, so to punish me, he ensured that she received the same punishment that I did...all because I felt the need to know why we were there; and in the end, Killigan sacrificed herself because I refused to sit idly by and do as he commanded."

"Almost immediately I was taken to his dungeon and chained naked to the wall with my sister beside me. As Uncle explained how things were going to work, I could only pray to the Scribe Virgin that Killigan knew how sorry I was. I half listened to his words, not truly caring; only hoping for a swift end to our misery. But when he ordered a table with chains brought to the dungeon, he got my attention. I saw the look in Uncle's eyes as he looked me over from top to bottom...they were empty, evil, but yet full of anticipation...I screamed at him and struggled as he came over to me, unlocked my chains, and dragged me to the table. He laid me on my back, quickly hooking my chains tightly to the table before coming back to stand over me. Lifting my chin, I was forced to watch his face as he trailed his finger down my neck, over my chest and down past my stomach. As I thrashed to get away, the other male returned with two more behind him."

"Uncle then explained that I was his and he was going to make sure that all males would know that. His marker was better than any bonded male's scent since it would remain until I passed unto the fade. The two males came and held me down as the one that had brought in the table began to mark me. The pain was worse than anything I had previously experienced but I still had worse yet in store for me; flipping me over to finish the marking, I looked to my sister and prayed that they did not mark her as they did me. With my heart breaking, I could only watch as she cried for my pain."

"Once the marking was done, I was flipped back over and as they tightened the chains on my ankles I knew what was coming and I just wished that Killigan would not have to watch or be put through it. As luck would have it, only part of my hopes came true...they made her view her own twin's defiling. No matter what uncle did, I do not believe that he expected it when I managed to jerk enough to strike him...it was worth the strike that I earned back and the barbed wire that he later returned with. Lining up the wire to its matching mark on my skin...he then..." Right about then, all movement Reigne made stopped, her talking, everything... just... stopped.

Vishous couldn't believe what he'd been listening to or that he'd allowed it to go on as long as he did. In a way, he knew what was going to happen; he dreamt about it. Talked about her tats. He was paying such close attention to her that when she started to falter; he jumped out of his seat and went to her. The look of pain and sheer terror on her face broke his heart. Knowing that he had to reach her before she completely shut down, he worked out of desperation and sent up another prayer that what he was going to do would work.

Deciding that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission, especially when he knew that when the brother and his _shellan_ figured out what he was doing, Wrath would probably destroy his desk to stop him; he quickly ripped off his glove, yelled "Stay back" before placing his brightly glowing palm on Reigne's face.

"V what the fuck are you doing? You're going to kill her." Wrath yelled as he tore from his seat.

"Stay back or it won't be Reigne I'm touching. True?" V growled back. "I'm not going to hurt her you ass, just help."

Taking a deep breath and moving his hands to her temples, he closed his eyes and got sucked into her memories like during her dream. Feeling the warmth from his glowing hand as it covered them both from head to foot; he concentrated on being directed straight to Reigne. When he finally was able to make contact, he let out a very audible hiss; what he saw brought back memories from his time in the Bloodletter's camp and sickened him. Whatever confusion he had over the connection with this female was gone; there were too many similarities for him to _not_ feel connected. As he began to understand her better, he felt his connection to her grow; and as much as he hated it, he knew that she needed to finish briefing them on what happened. But maybe... just maybe, he could make it easier on her by trying to get her to do it from a voyeur's perspective instead of re-experiencing it.

Walking through the dark dungeon of her memory to the table where she laid, he almost cried at the 'd seen a lot of different and tortuous things within the Bloodletter's camp; but the one thing he was looking upon was the one that seemed to tear him up inside. Sadly, affecting the memory or changing the past was something that he couldn't do, but at the very least, he could talk her through it instead of reliving it."Reigne?Come on female, look at me. I'm right here with you. You can stop this."

As his familiar voice registered in her mind, the memory seemed to pause. "Warrior? Verily is it you?"

"Yeah, female, I am here. Look at me."

Turning her head, she tried to extend her arms and reach him but the chains holding her down refused to give. "Please, warrior. Help me."

"Reigne, this is all a memory...it's already happened. You have the ability to control this; all you have to do is have the strength to will it. Concentrate on standing next to me, watching; and you won't have to deal with this. Come on... I know you can do it. You were strong enough to live through this already and survive, so I know you're strong enough to get through this."

"I want to, but I don't know how. Please… help me."

"Reigne, concentrate. See yourself standing next to me. Think about only that"

Hesitantly closing her eyes, Reigne pictured herself standing next to Vishous, fully clothed, but she felt the same, only when she opened her eyes, she saw that she had moved and was standing beside her warrior. Seeing herself still lying on the table under her uncle, she looked at Vishous in confusion then threw herself into his arms.

"Thank you."

In the study, Beth held onto Wrath with both of her arms in a death grip out of worry and to keep him away from V's deadly hand. The longer V had his hand on Reigne and nothing happened, the more relaxed Wrath became. When V started talking to Reigne, it seemed as though he was seeing what was in her memory. They could hear him speaking in a surprisingly soothing tone that was completely unusual for the brother. To Beth, it kind of sounded like the tone Wrath would use when he was trying to talk her into calming down.

When the two began having their own conversation, even when it appeared that they were alone in where they were, Beth knew that something was happening with the pair. She didn't know what, but whatever it was, it connected the two in a whole different way than just attraction. Knowing how much of an asshole Wrath could be when his possessive and protective side took over, Beth knew that she was going to have to really keep an eye on the two, to keep her mate from butting in where he didn't belong. Seeing Reign relax in V's hands, Wrath's muscles began to uncoil themselves as he began to relax even though he still let out a hiss.

Turning her attention back to her _hellren_, Beth reached up and gently placed her hand on his cheek. "See hon, V isn't gonna hurt her. Whatever it is that he's doing seems to be working,it's calming her down. You need to calm yourself down before you rile her back up. Maybe V can get her through this without the extra trauma. You said it yourself, we need to find out what happened to her, who her uncle is…" pausing as Wrath hissed again, "…and how she got here. But if we can do this without making her go through all that crap again, then I say we do it. Let V help her."

Wrath looked to his mate and sighed. He knew she was right, but he felt like shit being useless while Reigne was hurting so much. "_Leelan_, I hear what you're saying... Thanks, you know that I couldn't get through this without you... Hell, I probably would've hurt them both by attacking V. Thank you my love."

As he hugged her to him, his eyes went back to the glowing couple and waited. As he watched, he saw V react to something he saw, he heard the hiss and saw the male's fangs elongate so far he couldn't close his mouth. Seeing that worried Wrath but he knew that V would tell him the deets when he could.

As the scene unfroze, V watched the display unfold as Reigne practically folded herself into his arms. Seeing these things happening to her pissed him off; he had to keep reminding himself that she was safe and this shit already happened. The thought of her spending centuries being abused by the male on top of her just cranked his anger up another level. Oh how he wished that he could get his hands on the male to yank him off her and kill him. What made it nearly impossible to stay in control was when the male raised his head in satisfaction at her pain and V finally got a good look at the male.

Instinct warred with logic as V hissed and took a fighting stance in front of Reigne as an enraged growl erupted from his chest. If she hadn't already been clinging to him, his quick movements would've almost knocked her to the floor. But it was the shame-filled face of the female in his arms that made pain bloom in the center of his chest.

"Hey...none of that female. Look at me, _leelan_. This wasn't your fault. None of it was. You didn't ask for any of what happened to you. If you blame anyone, blame the ass that did this to you; never blame yourself." The changing emotions that flashed across her face showed the ever present shame mingled with her sadness and pain. Pulling her tighter against him, his initial thought of shielding her from the nastiness flew away with the broken look on her face. "You were the victim; not the cause. Never think otherwise. If you want to, you can escape this hell... Stop thinking of this, stop reliving the pain and think of something else."

"I cannot. You see... this was my punishment. The defiling, the branding, the barbed wire... it was all my punishment. Killigan being forced to watch was also my punishment. Luckily, she was not subjected to the same violations that I was; her punishments were minor compared to mine but I was still forced to watch what happened to her. Her body was used for blood, while mine was saved for uncle's baser needs. I looked forward to and prayed for the times which he would leave on trips. Those were the times that we were left unmolested in our basement cell for days at a time with only a doggen entering with meager scraps for food; and only when they could sneak it down or the guards that were assigned to bring us enough nourishment to survive."

Barely turning her body in Vishous' arms, she was able to peek around him to see her dear sister chained to the table.

"After my punishment, Killigan quickly learned her new role as his blood-slave regardless of what small amount of fight that she had in her. She tried so hard to take my punishments from me, but how could she do that when she could barely contain herself being fed upon. Every time she was fed on, I died a bit inside. We were in this situation because of me... not her. Killigan was the peaceful one. She would have been glad to have been kept in a room all day stitching; me... not so much. Other than being used for his amusement, we were left alone; only seeing uncle when he wanted some 'enjoyment' as he called it. Every so often, he would make a medley of torture; always ensuring that I was awake and Killigan asleep. He enjoyed her submissiveness so ensured that she was unaware of anything too... traumatizing for her; regardless if she were alert or asleep meant no difference to me, it was all torture. After a time went by, the questioning began. Questions about my parents, the First Family, why we were separated from where we belonged... I never answered a word; I even refused to tell him our bedtime stories. Of course it helped that most of his royal related questions, I had no answer for; but he was very angry to not be able to question Killigan. Repeatedly yelling that I held all the power, and she was a 'typical' female of the race... and of course the one he needed was the one that refused him. None of us were aware how, but when I told her not to speak, she was unable to; which of course saved her hours of torture once he it figured out."

"The more submissive Killigan became, the more he seemed to almost take a liking to her; allowing her to be released to bathe, eat decent meals, and the virgin only knows what else. But it was during these times that he would come in to question me. Once, when she was unable to hear, he held up a leather-bound book; it seemed like nothing special, just a typical small diary. I was unaware of the reason for the questioning until he announced that it belonged to my _mahmen_ and held some very important secrets; secrets that if substantiated, would prove that the lies of the First Family would be revealed. But to do this, he said that he needed a second diary which held the same information; a diary that belonged to the Queen, and he demanded to know where it was. When I refused to answer, the barbed wire was returned and I was asked again. I had no knowledge of what he was asking so of course I could not answer, so the whip was introduced. It became a new toy of his that at one time he had threatened to dip the tips in saltwater so that I would scar, leaving me with constant reminders of my refusal to obey. It was an idle threat and I knew it; he spent too much time trying to not maim my body too badly since it would only repulse him."

Easing herself from Vishous' arms, Reigne slowly circled the table, taking in the scene. When she stopped her slow trek, it was as if she had hit a fast forward button. As scenes flew by, Vishous saw the flashing backgrounds surrounding her treatment at the hands of that monster; pictures of her tied to the table and tortured, violated, and fed from. There were displays of the twins being chained to the wall, malnourished, and abused; when the background settled, Reigne was back on the table, chained in place, only this time, instead of the normally scattered chains, there were more of them holding down her body to keep her in place."Previous to this, I thought I had experienced and handled pain, but what you see in front of you is how I learned exactly how much pain I could tolerate. What you glanced previous to this was my first ten years of imprisonment. I am sure by the time that elapsed; you can imagine what time this is for me."

Hugging herself, Reigne watched as her uncle came in to drug her sister, giving her enough drugs to knock her out for a couple of days. "He was always so thoughtful with Killigan, he knew that as twins, that she would suffer watching anything done to me, so he ensured that she would never have to experience it; it was the only act of mercy that he accomplished. I was never that fortunate, especially for my first needing. He wanted me to know and feel the experience so that he could use it in the future. I had already experienced the overwhelming heat flashes and the need over a short time, but it was bearable. A short time after he left, the full force of the pain of my needing came."

They both watched the memory play out as Reigne's back arched off of the table as she moaned, and writhed around. Still hugging herself, Reigne absently placed herself next to Vishous, practically hiding herself behind him. "I quickly learned that there is no greater pain than suffering through a needing; as each time passed, I finally became able to lose myself and not show how badly I was affected. After time passed, his attempts to take satisfaction from the needing pain became humorous; he tried to take amusement from my pain and I disappointed him by learning to hibernate. Each needing came and I would hibernate; I would not move, not speak, and not make a single noise. More times than I could count, uncle and his men had to check to see if I had gone unto the fade."

Vishous broke out in a cold sweat as he watched her writhing and moaning in her needing. For a male to be so cruel to force a female to suffer through her needing was unheard of. Snapping out of his daze, he pulled Reigne backwards until she was tightly back in his arms. "You don't have to deal with this again; feel free to jump ahead at any time."

"Thank you."She said softly as she leaned her head against his chest. Having him here, watching what transpired to her was embarrassing, yes, but she knew that she would not have been able to get through this without his support. As their surroundings sped up again, they watched in tandem as the next two centuries of her life flew by. When the background focused again, things were a bit wonky; they were outside as doggen were quickly moving things but the scene looked definitely... wonky."Ah... I remember this... it is when we were being moved from the Old Country. To keep us silent and still, uncle ensured that we were so drugged that everything seemed like you see; blurry, slow, and always fighting for my eyes to focus. We arrived before we even knew how or why we were moved. I can only assume that the property that uncle chose is on the outskirts of the closest town since I am not silent in my protests. I ensured to scream loudly at every opportunity in case we were able to be discovered."

"The first night in our new 'home', uncle made sure that we were chained up and everything was in its proper place, like he liked it and then it was back to the same. Things began changing again approximately around my last needing, it seemed as though he was becoming... almost desperate. As I mentioned previously, uncle demanded all knowledge of the first family and what my parents had done; I knew nothing so I could tell him nothing, but he did not believe me. So he decided that past attempts to make me speak were fruitless so he chose that needing to taunt me into giving information. When I was at my worst, he tempted to give me relief from the pain in exchange for the knowledge he required. He had a few small males chained to chairs, ready for me to feed and whatever was needed; all I had to do was speak and he would release one at a time for each thing I revealed."

As she revealed the details of the day, Vishous watched the scene unfold in front of them. Chained to the table, Reigne watched as her uncle spoke, surrounding them were three chairs with chains attached to them. From the side room, the naked males were led into the room and chained to the chairs; they all seemed drugged, or at least coming out of their drugged state. To take a hungry female in need and wave their possible relief in their face... Vishous hadn't met anyone that cruel since training in his sire's camp.

Watching the entire scene play out with a sad smile on her face, Reigne was able to look at him with a small bit of pride as she quietly said, "No matter what he tried, once again, much to his dismay, I hibernated; right in front of him, I closed my eyes and slowly began turning my body off. It was the only time that I felt sorry for any of his men because they were left to suffer with me. After that, I think uncle gave up thinking of new ways to torture me since no matter what occurred, my answer was always the same. I had no answer."

The landscape began flashing by again, going almost so fast that to see anything in particular, you'd really have to concentrate on what you were seeing. Of course the sight of Reigne being beaten repeatedly was a sight V had no interest in seeing.

"Towards the end of my last years here, uncle forced me to go longer and longer before he would allow me to feed, hoping to break me through my thirst. Knowing that I would most likely not break but the complete opposite was what made Killigan decide to act and attempt to gain my freedom. I am unsure what she did, but if I were to speculate, I believe that one of the guards, that seemed to have begun to care for her, aided in my escape. All I remember was waking from my most recent round with uncle and I was alone with Killigan and unchained. The clothing that uncle would dress Killigan in and her favorite jacket that at one time was made for our Mahmen were neatly folded at my side."

Standing next to Reigne, Vishous watched the scene in front of them, as she struggled to stand and get dressed then kneeled by the barely breathing female still chained to the wall.

"Go" was the whispered word. "Run... leave me and run."

The words were barely audible but the intent was clear. Reigne's twin wanted her to leave. She was unable to exist anymore but she knew that her elder twin could. Watching Reigne struggling to sneak from the room was painful, but the look of pure defeat that was on her face when she turned to look at her twin... her lifelong friend, was torture. All poor Reigne could do was pray for Killigan's life, safety, and that one day, maybe in the fade, they would meet again.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Reigne turned to Vishous to conclude her story. "I know not how you came to be with me here in my memories, but I want you to know that I could not have survived this without you. I…I wish that… oh never mind. The remainder of my tale is a bit odd for me since I went on instinct rather than knowledge. After sneaking around where we were kept, I finally found a door that led to a forest; I was still in so much pain and was very weak. Instead of wasting whatever energy that still remained by moving further from the house, I reached deeply inside of myself to where I felt a pull a great distance away; I only assumed that it was the call of the blood that Wrath and I share. Using the last of my energy, I focused on where that pull led me and dematerialized for the first time, directly to a location that I had seen in my visions... outside where I collapsed... and the rest you know."

The deeply rooted battle of emotions that continued to cross Reigne's face was something that Vishous couldn't help her with. After what he had seen, he knew that she felt that she was unworthy of finding any comfort. The comment she made earlier about his seeing her differently made sense now. Opening his arms, he gave her the choice to come to him for comfort; smiling when she quickly went to him without hesitation.

"I know that you've got a lot of recovering to do from all of this, but I want you to know that if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here. All you need do is ask. Ok?"

She nodded, knowing that there would be limits to his offer, but not wanting to think about it. "Can we please leave this place? I have already spent too much time here in real life."

"Close your eyes, _leelan_. Concentrate on Wrath's face, the study surrounding us and when you open your eyes, you'll see that you never even left."

Doing as she was told, Reigne took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and envisioned what Vishous described and when she opened her eyes and looked around, the first thing to be seen was a worried Beth and Wrath. The sudden lights of the study made it hard for her eyes to adjust, but as soon as they did, she noticed that Vishous still had a hold on her and they were glowing, a beautiful golden color like the night before when he was healing the other warrior. As the glow began to fade, Reigne made to take a step back, but unfortunately, her body had other ideas as her legs began to collapse under her. Once again she was saved from meeting the floor by Vishous' grasp; meeting his eyes her face turned a bright shade of red when she realized the grip he had on her.

"If you want to stay in my arms, all you have to do is ask female. If you keep collapsing, then I'm going to think that you're trying to find ways for me to wrap my arms around you." Winking at her, he was pleased when her face turned a deeper shade of red and she smiled at him. "Well... unless Wrath suddenly got hungry enough to pig down your food, it should still be on his desk waiting for you; so let's get you ready to eat, shall we."

Nodding, she looked over at the desk as her mouth began to water at the mention of food. Starting to reach for it, she was slightly veered away from the plate as V sat her down and grabbed it instead. Reaching again for the plate, she was a bit shocked when he refused to give it up; instead began feeding her there in the office. Seeing that the male was refusing to relinquish the plate, she just gave up trying; instead turned to Wrath and Beth.

By the shocked look on Reigne's face, Wrath realized that his attempt to hide his feelings of murderous rage was failing miserably. Remembering that the female was an innocent in everything that had been revealed allowed him to calm down. "Reigne, I have to apologize. When I asked you to tell me everything that happened, I had no idea of the things that you went through. Making you relive those memories was very hard and I thank you for explaining everything. You will never know just how important some of the things you said were."

"Wrath, you have no reason to apologize. You needed and deserved to know. Now that I am no longer focused on those past memories, I am much better. I…" she was stopped mid-sentence as a piece of chicken was shoved in her open mouth. Chewing quickly, she glared at V with an annoyed look as she tried to finish her sentence. "I am truly sorry if I upset you with any words that I might have said; but once I began speaking; there were no ways to stop it from being exposed."

Finally, she was able to finish her ongoing comment by quickly dodging the bite of chicken that was headed for her mouth. Blocking the inbound bite with her hand, she added for future curiosities, "Any questions you may have, I will answer without challenge or deception. I truly would understand if you wished to rescind any invitations to your home that you previously made. My past should not be allowed to tarnish your reputation and rule."

"Reigne... what are you talking about? We are family and as such, you will always be welcome here for as long as you like. In fact I insist on it. It has nothing to do with your past or any of the experiences that you lived through, but the fact that you are my blood. I'll be damned if you're ever going to get hurt again. I swear it." The fierce look coupled with his stubborn expression said that the conversation was done and brooked no argument.

"To be honest, I am unsure if I will ever feel safe regardless of where I rest my head; but I thank you for it. But as long as uncle..." Another piece of chicken shoved in her mouth silenced her instantly earning Vishous another irritated glare. Shrugging, V's easy attitude about stuffing her mouth made it seem as though she was the one being unreasonable. Hurriedly he offered up another bite of food the moment that she opened her mouth again. Giving in, she realized that she had no other choice but to let him feed her, so she gratefully accepted each bite.

Beth had to bite the inside of her mouth, trying not to laugh at the sight of the two in front of her, just to watch the looks that the two elder vampires were shooting each other. Stubborn asses. That was one way to make sure that Reigne ate. From her time of being mated to Wrath, Beth had a pretty good idea about the male of the species and knew that V would win... Hell, he normally won any type of argument that happened around him. Of course it was always interesting to watch Wrath and V get into any debate since V always liked to have the last word and be right and Wrath never let anything go until he got what he wanted. Another round of laughter was stifled as a thought occurred to her. She had a BIG feeling that things were about to get really interesting around here."Reigne honey, I do believe that you were meant to be here. It may sound weird, but I really believe that. Not only would it give me another female to be around, but whether or not you realize it, you are already connected with the brotherhood in a lot of ways."

Beth smiled at Wrath before turning her attention back to Reigne. "You obviously have a blood connection with Wrath since you are family. The other connections you have with the brother's are mostly theirs to share, but I can give you the short version... V here, is probably the brother that you'd connect with the most since he was the first to meet and care for you, but most importantly, he had a somewhat similar experience at the hands of his family."

V almost growled at Beth for opening her trap, but he knew that Reigne needed to hear that she wasn't alone. Nodding, he clenched his teeth shut and let Beth keep running off at the mouth.

"Since Phury is a first born twin, I think that he'd be good for you to talk to because he had to live with the loss of his twin and the effect that it had on himself and also his family. He could probably help you learn to deal with the pain of losing Killigan. Although his twin didn't die, he was stolen at a young age; but that's neither here nor there since he was finally found and became a brother. Zsadist is his name and he lived almost an identical life as yours. Fortunately, his hell only lasted about a century before Phury found and rescued him. So Zsadist is connected to you because of almost identical life circumstances. Usually, he's the hardest brother to get to know, but I have a feeling that he'll be easier on you because of your similarities. Next we have Rhage. Rhage is our version of a mansion jester. He's great for getting people to smile, so if you are having a hard time and need to have your mood lifted, he's the one to find. Mary, his _shellan_, who is human, was a counselor of sorts before they were mated... she helped people who lived hard lives learn to deal with their past and accept their future. She would be the best to talk to you if you need to talk about your experiences. Trust me; she's helped all of us in some way. Butch, I have been told that you have met him already; believe it or not, is another cousin of yours and an expert when you need pointers on how to deal with Vishous. Before he mated Marissa, those two were as close as brothers get. In truth, since Marissa has Safe Place, which is a home to help abused or unmated females and their families, to run during the nights, those two are still pretty much inseparable."

Unnoticed by Reigne, as Beth spoke, she unconsciously accepted every bite of food that Vishous had offered her. It was only when the food stopped coming that she realized that her plate was empty and Vishous was smiling as though he accomplished an impossible deed.

"Beth, I truly thank you for your words. I would happily like to meet the brothers and learn from them. But I am sure that there are questions that you both have that I hope I can answer."

Without really looking at Reigne, Wrath knew that she meant every word. But right now he felt as though they'd put her through enough for the moment. "Nah... I really don't have anything right now. I'm sure you're tired, so why don't you go relax for a while and we'll talk again before Last Meal. If you need anything, let us know. We're all here for you."

"If that is your wish, then I will return to my room until later." Standing, Reigne nodded deeply to the remaining three in the office then left to try and find her room. She was unaware if they truly knew how thankful she was for everything they were doing for her. Especially since this was the first time that she would have quiet for herself since she was a child. But the one thing that truly confused her was the pain that she felt in her chest that her warrior was not returning with her.

Back in the study, Reigne had no sooner left when V dove into his food. Although he was stuffing his mouth full, it was kind of hard not to notice the eyes that were intensely staring at him through a pair of shades. With a mouth full of food, V looked at Wrath with a raised eyebrow and waited for whatever the brother was going to blow a gasket about until he finished with his food. "So... Were you actually being nice or just trying to get rid of her so you could pick my brain?"

Wrath snorted. "Unlike you, I do know how to be nice every once in a while. Besides, she looked emotionally and physically wrung out; so I figured it was time to call a timeout since she just had to go through hell and back to relive the shit that she did. But I do want to pick your brain though."

"Hmm... how did I know? Ok... fire away."

Leaning forward, Wrath wasted no time. "What the fuck were you thinking!? Weren't you the one who said that touching your hand without the glove on would fry the one that touched it? There was no reason to put her life in danger."

"Chill, will ya. I knew nothing was going to happen. We had an 'oops' last night when she got in the middle of Butch's 'therapy' session by accident. No one warned her, so she didn't know any better. The only thing that happened was that it healed her. Then after she fell asleep, I knocked out beside her; somehow my glove came off and she managed to roll on top of it. This time it healed her completely as we slept. So I knew that I could touch her without her going poof. It's like she's immune to it."

Holding up his hand to keep Wrath from speaking, "Yes I saw what she saw. No, I don't plan on giving you the deets of everything that's happened since she showed up, so deal. The important thing is that I knew that I could connect with her and help her since she pulled me into a dream this morning. I have no clue what happened, but one minute I was in the room here at the mansion, the next I was in her body, experiencing what she was dreaming about. And before you ask... no, it's never happened before; somehow she just reached out and pulled me in with her. I get why you want to know things, but let me tell you... that old saying that ignorance is bliss... take that saying to the bank this time and be happy that it was me in the front row seat and not you.

"And as for why I went to her... Earlier, when I went to take her Beth's clothes, she was still in the shower, so I tried to tell her that I was back. There was no sound of movement, no recognition, no nothing other than breathing and a heartbeat. So since she wasn't answering, I got kind of worried and went in and found her unresponsive on the floor of the shower. It was like she was there but gone... completely. When she finally pulled herself out of wherever she was, I asked her about the tattoo that I noticed when I pulled her out of the shower... Whew... definite asshat move. I didn't know it at the time, but it was. It was almost like she got stuck in her mind. Surprisingly, for the first time in who knows how long, I was able to read her mind; yea... lucky me. I got to see first-hand that she was stuck in her memory of getting inked... Definitely not pleasant. So, since I knew what was up with her earlier, why wouldn't I have helped?"

Putting the last piece of mango in his mouth and licking his fingers clean, he slumped down in the chair getting comfortable then stretched his legs out in front of him. "Oh... and besides the visions, she's telepathic like me. So now you know there's another one of us in the house, you know that there's more than just our background that connects us. But the cool thing is that she's the first person that I've met that was like me. As much as I love you guys, it feels so good to have someone else like me around. So...next?"

Shaking his head from V's sarcastic information overload, Wrath took off his shades and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Did you see anything in her memories that would help us track down this bastard or would help explain anything that happened?"

Shrugging his shoulders, V just smirked. "My lord, I can do you one better. I saw the bastard's face and we already know him. He's on the council for the fucking _glymera_."

Wrath hissed and bared his fangs. "WHAT. IS. HIS. NAME? I want this fucker dead and stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey!"

Trying to sooth her _hellren_, Beth wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on tight. "Wrath, I know that you want to kill him; so do I, but you can't just simply go off and take the life of a member of the _glymera's_ council just on Reigne's testimony. You know damn well that they'd demand evidence." Turning to Vishous, she seriously ordered, "You have my permission to not tell Wrath his name; but you can't go after him either. It won't help Reigne and she's already worried about how things are going to affect Wrath in everyone's eyes. So, I want both of you to agree that neither of you will fly off the handle nor do something reckless that will bite us in the ass later. If you do, I promise that there'll be ramifications felt by BOTH of you."

Wrath opened his mouth to argue, but he knew that he couldn't; she was right. Smiling at her victory, Beth leaned forward on Wrath's desk and turned her full attention back to Vishous.

Knowing better than to argue with Beth and the trouble that came with it, Vishous just snickered at her. "Alright, I agree. Then Reigne can help us nail the bastard."

Beth heaved a sigh of relief. She really didn't want to have to find a way to keep these two house bound. "Ok... So are you going to tell ME who it is so that we can work with Reigne to get the proof we need?"

Wrath looked at Beth in shock.

"What? Aren't I allowed to be mad at a male who mistreats a female? Especially when she's supposed to be family? Come on... you males don't have the patent on the vengeance market."

Chuckling, Wrath put his arm around his feisty mate and kissed her cheek. "Ah _leelan_, you surprise me daily. You make me so happy."

Deciding that it was time to leave, Vishous pretended to gag and choked out, "Ok, you two are going to make me puke. I'm going to go check in with the guys and see what's doin'. Call me if anything happens with Reigne." Getting up to leave, he paused in the doorway to turn and look back at Wrath. "Oh, and by the way...the bastard is going to be hard as hell to nail since he's the fucking right hand to the current _leahdyre_."

"Fuck." Wrath spat. "I knew that I hated Mhayson for a reason. We will have to keep an eye on him until we can nail him with this."

V bowed to Wrath. "Consider it my vow to make sure that bastard pays for what he has done to her." With that, Vishous headed out to find his brothers. He had a sudden urge to kill something and a _lesser_ was better than nothing.

**So what did you think of all that you learned about Reigne and Wrath and their family? Please push the little lonely button at the bottom and send me a review. Reviews are what I live for, other than the brothers of course.**


	6. Visit to Havers

**Sorry that it has taken so long for me to update. A lot of random pain in the butt stuff has been happening and I just haven't been able to get time to write. Hoping that has all changed now that I finally got this chapter up for you. **

**Ok, so now we know what happened in Reigne's past. I can't wait to see where this is all going to go.**

**This chapter contains adult language and scenes, so beware.**

**Before I continue I want to give a major shout out to my beta, Bruja1775. She is awesome and goes beyond the expected with her help.**

**I do not own BDB, only my few characters and interpretations. Please enjoy!**

Re-materializing in front of the mansion, Vishous had definitely found the fight that he'd been looking for. When he left earlier, a well-timed phone call to Hollywood helped him find the outlet for his aggression that he desperately needed. Per Hollywood, the group they had just stumbled upon seemed to be on a mission, but one thing was for certain, this was the second night that the _lessers_ were out in large groups looking for something and they were getting pissed about not finding it. Staring at the front door, he tried to figure out why in the hell he was there instead of 'The Pit' like he should've been.

He was dirty, pissed, hurt, and all he wanted was a hot shower and a bottle of Lagavulin; but he couldn't stop himself from just standing there. Reflecting back over the last few hours, he thought about how quickly he hung-up from his call and materialized into an alley that was filled with the stench of baby powder. The guys had almost finished up with a first group of _lessers_ before a second group of eight came running into the alley. It sucked that he showed up late for the fun, but hey...better late than never. Baring his fangs with a hiss, he began stalking his prey, falling in line with his brothers beside him. Going the daredevil route, V dematerialized and popped up in the middle of the slayers. Reaching out, he caught a _lesser_ around the neck and yanked back, pulling it off its feet with a quick jerk; making the _lesser_ go airborne, before slamming head first into the red brick wall with a heavy thud. Hum...one down seven to go.

Quickly glancing around, he saw Hollywood toying with a couple of newbie _lessers_ with hand-to-hand while Z was using another as a punching bag. Ending a _lesser_ with a quick jab to the chest, Phury sent the idiot back to its maker, the Omega. Unfortunately, the bright light associated with killing a _lesser_ occurred at the same moment Vishous checked on Phury, momentarily blinding V and leaving him open for attack. _Lessers_ might be a scratch at the bottom of a barrel, but they weren't stupid; they take the first available window to make their move.

Fighting to regain his vision, Vishous was too blinded to see the _lesser_ attack until it was too late. The sharp stab of pain in his side and slash across his back just pissed him off. Still partially blinded, he whirled around, grabbed the slayer by the neck and head butted it. With his vision returning, he pulled off his glove with his teeth then set his glowing palm in the center of its chest; barely hearing the _lesser's_ ear-deafening scream as he watched it practically boil from the inside out. The agony crossing the _lesser's_ face made the pain that Vishous was going through worth it. Watching the slayer turn to dust, Vishous snarled at the remains, the stupid thing had actually been proud of the little scratches it caused…that was until he gave it a hand…his glowing hand. Still riding high on his adrenaline rush, Vishous took in his surroundings before returning to the _lesser_ that he threw against the wall.

The _lesser_ hadn't moved from where it landed; the once airborne _lesser_ was still in the heap that it landed in, upside down, looking like it screwed up a headstand. As the _lesser _slowly gained consciousness, the look of calm that crossed its face only worked to infuriate Vishous more. Making a show of taking a dagger out of its holster, Vishous struck hard and fast. Stabbing the thing everywhere but the chest, the one spot that if stabbed with something made of steel, the _lesser_ was sent back to the Omega. He was just starting to have fun and didn't feel like sending the thing back to its maker yet, so he was single minded in his task of releasing tension.

"Hey V?"

Not aware that the fight was over, Vishous kept stabbing the _lesser_. Over and over again, completely oblivious of his surroundings.

Not getting a response from the first time he tried to get the brother's attention, Phury tried again, "V, man, you need to stop." When he got no response a second time, he walked over to V and put his hand on the male's shoulder.

Jerking to the side at the unexpected touch, Vishous looked up to see Phury standing behind him as the others watched covertly from a distance while they wiped their blades and cleaned up the scene.

"Man, stab the damn thing already so we can go." Hollywood said from the back.

Looking at the _lesser_, or rather what was left of it, Vishous was stunned to see the mess that he'd made. That wasn't like him at all. Sure, he enjoyed playing with his prey from time-to-time, but normally he was very controlled. The shit that happened at the mansion was the only thing that he could think of to brain-fuck him this bad. Leaning over and stabbing the thing in the chest, once the flash disappeared, the only reminder of his control slip was the oily mess that was left behind.

Standing up, V turned to inspect their surroundings. The only _lessers_ still hanging around were completely incapacitated since the brothers felt it best to stop him before he made a _lesser_-kabob.

"V, man, what's doin?" Hollywood asked.

"Not going there tonight, drop it."

"Is it because of our new house guest?"

"Drop it Hollywood. Not a topic of discussion." V glared at the male, driving home his point.

Zsadist looked at them both and shrugged. "So new topic. V, you're dripping."

V looked down at himself and saw the oily slickness on his pants. "Well, shit."

"Not just your pants, man."

V looked at Zsadist and then down at the rest of him. Then the smell hit him, mixed in with the baby powder smell was the smell of blood, his blood. As if the smell flipped a switch, his side and back began to throb and felt like they were going up in flames.

"Fuuuuccckkkk!" He sagged to the side. "Well ain't this a bitch." He held up a hand to stop someone from moving. "Don't bother, I'm already going."

"V, call Butch, have him..."

Not wanting to hear the rest of Phury's comment, Vishous dematerialized to where he currently stood in front of the mansion. It was probably for the best that he left before anyone could call; it was Butch's one night off rotation and it wouldn't have been fair to bug him. And bug him they would; hell, Rhage would've probably held him down until Butch got there.

Figuring he'd stood outside looking like an idiot long enough; he went into the vestibule and looked into the camera, waiting for Fritz to let him in. Stepping through the opened door, he made up his mind to high tail it to 'The Pit' before anyone saw him and drove him nuts about being hurt. The last thing he needed was someone trying to 'fix him'; a shower, a hand rolled, and a bottle of Lag and he'd be straight for the rest of the night. In that order exactly.

Instead of heading for the doorway under the stairs, the compulsion to look up had him almost going up the stairs; almost as though his subconscious was searching for something but whatever it was wasn't there. Feeling the mansion abnormally empty, he was about to go upstairs to check on Reigne before going to his room for a little R & R when a wave of pain hit him so hard that he had to grab onto the banister for support.

Not aware that he'd made any noise, Vishous was caught off guard when Fritz came running out of the dining room. "Sire... Sire, are you alright?"

Trying to act as normal as possible while hanging onto the banister, he asked, "Fritz, where is everyone? This place feels empty tonight."

Vishous' attempt to look at Fritz in the eye was ruined when the room started to tilt on him. "Oh hell…"

Fritz didn't get a chance to answer before Vishous collapsed to the floor, knowing that Butch was only in the billiard room, he immediately called to the brother for help.

Wrath materialized outside of Havers' clinic and counted the seconds until his _shellan_ and his cousin joined him. As he counted, he mentally replayed the scene in his study; specifically the moment he saw her eyes. He'd never thought he'd ever be able to look into eyes like that again. Thinking about those eyes, they should be appearing with his mate's any second now.

Returning back to his count, Wrath was about to head back to the mansion to check on them when there was a ripple in the air and he sensed his blood surrounding him from both sides. Relaxing, he began to breathe easier as Beth materialized on his right and then Reigne on his left.

"What the hell took you two so long?" Wrath growled.

"Hey, take it easy will you." Beth began as she wrapped herself around her mate. "Right before we were about to leave, Reigne said that she felt as though she needed to stay behind..."

Reigne stepped around and cut her off. "Verily cousin, the fault lies with me. Please do not be angry with Beth. It was just...it was...was a feeling, pushing me to stay where I was. I voiced my concern; however Beth suggested that it was...goodness, what had she called it... Oh yes...anxiety. She said that I was anxious about being around and meeting new people. Thinking on it, I agreed that she could be correct and I consented to follow you thus."

Beth laughed and looked up at Wrath's face. "Yeah... that's what I was going to say just not in so many words. She is more eloquent than I am."

Reaching out to Reigne, Wrath cupped his large hand against her cheek and rubbed it with his thumb comfortingly. "I'm just glad you two are finally here. Let's get inside."

Directing them to the side door and through the first security checkpoint, Wrath pulled the females in behind him as he waited for the next door to open. As the airlock resealed behind them, the door to the stairs popped open. After descending the stairs, the last air lock was opened and they stepped into the waiting room for the clinic.

Seeing the unusual sight of the king of their race entering the waiting room, caused the normally relaxed staff to jump to attention while others ran for their assigned areas. Having the royal family come in at all was an odd occurrence that caused the female behind the admissions desk to stutter in embarrassment and nerves.

"My lord, forgive us for our negligence. We were not expecting you. Is there something I could do for you? Are you or the Queen ill?"

Lifting his hand to forestall any further questions, Wrath politely tried to ease the nurse of her worries. "I'm sorry we showed up without notice, but I was hoping to catch Havers in between patients."

"No worries, my lord." Turning to the nurse beside her annotating charts, "Ehlena, would you please go let Havers know the King is here?"

"Right away, Catya." Ehlena turned and disappeared down the hallway.

"My lord, can I get you anything while you wait?"

"No, Catya, we're fine. Thank you. I hope that we haven't come at a busy time for you guys."

"No, my lord, we are no busier than normal." Catya said as she busied herself with papers on the desk.

Coming down the hall and into the waiting area, Ehlena quietly got Wrath's attention, "My lord, Havers is just finishing up from a surgery and he asked that I show you back to him. He is entering in patient notes and the surgery room is clean so it will not offend you."

"Thank you, Ehlena. Please show us the way." Placing a hand on both of his female's backs, Wrath ushered them after the nurse.

Walking beside her mate, Beth remembered the last time she walked in this direction; the difference this time was that instead of being afraid for Wrath's life, he was walking beside her. Thinking on Havers' brain-fuck of trying to kill Wrath, she had to keep reminding herself that they were there for Reigne's sake and that he knew all he had to do was look at Wrath wrong and he'd be tried for treason. Yet, even with that reminder, she seemed to sense the ghosts of the brothers and Butch up ahead as they had stood guard while Wrath was in surgery. Looking over at Reigne, she saw the female walking seemingly calm on Wrath's left side, but her anxiety showed in her bowed head and slightly shaking clasped hands.

As they neared the anteroom to the surgical suite at the end of the hallway, Wrath placed his arm around Beth's waste. He knew the memories that this was dredging up for her. "I'm right here. Don't let those memories get a hold of you."

Beth leaned into him as they walked through the door that was held open by Ehlena. Looking ahead down the hall, she saw the doors that led into the surgical room, the one she had spent countless days in willing Wrath to stay with her. Giving herself a mental slap, she reminded herself that Wrath was walking with her and they were her to make sure that Reigne was ok.

"Havers is right through that door in front of you, my lord."

"Thank you, Ehlena." Wrath felt the air move as she bowed and backed out of the room. "Are you two ready to go in?"

Giving Wrath a kiss, Beth took a deep breath and prepared herself to deal with Havers. "Yeah, come on."

Reigne looked at her two cousins and wondered if she would ever be fortunate enough to experience the love that she bore witness too. Rubbing the center of her chest, the feeling of dread that she felt earlier was still throbbing at full force. The feeling to stay at the mansion was so strong...she attempted to ignore it and the pull to return but it would not let up. After initially telling Beth about the feeling, Beth had said that she was anxious and it was only nerves about leaving the safety of the mansion, but once they were out, she would feel better because the clinic was a safe place; not wanting to be difficult, she acquiesced and followed the blood pull of Wrath to their current location.

Walking through another set of doors, it seemed to Reigne as though she was in a foreign land. Everywhere she looked there was something new and unknown; boxes with glowing faces on them, metal objects scattered around, a person without blood or skin...only bones hanging up in a corner...all of these things were unfamiliar. Although she felt unsettled by what she saw, she knew that time had passed while she stayed the same; these were different times than when she previously lived in it. All these odd objects made her realize exactly how lost she was. Making a vow to herself, Reigne promised that she would ask questions and learn everything needed to acclimate to this new world around her.

Reigne was pulled out of her thoughts by a gentle touch on her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Wrath looking at her with an expectant look.

"Reigne, are you ok?"

Blushing as she bowed her head, "Verily. This is all so new to me and I am attempting to adjust to it all as quickly as possible."

"Oh hell, I didn't think about that. Sorry." Wrath rubbed his eyes under his shades. Gesturing to the male standing in front of them, "Reigne, this is Havers, our healer. Havers, this is my cousin, Reigne. Due to some extenuating circumstances, we only found each other yesterday. She ran into some trouble on her way here and I want you to check her out and make sure that she's ok. Can you do that?"

Merely nodding at the king's request, Havers was stunned by the female in front of him. She was gorgeous and to him no words could do her beauty justice. The fall of her hair as it framed her face and her eyes, they seemed to pierce their way into his soul. Fighting the pull of those eyes, it seemed as though the cogs of his brain started turning again. "Wait…my lord…did you say...cousin?" There was no way that he could've heard the king correctly.

"Havers, pull yourself together. Yes, Reigne is my cousin, born of my sire's sister."

"My Lord, not to offend, but if I may, as impossible as this whole scenario seems, I have to ask why now, after all of this time, is she coming forward?" Havers was too busy staring to register that the tone of his question caused a building look of anger on the king's face. It was useless waiting for a reaction from Reigne since she hadn't moved from her current stance of bowed head and clasped hands.

"As my lord cousin mentioned, I have been unable to arrive until now. I had been…detained." The foreign feeling from earlier had Reigne looking between the healer and the door, a feeling which felt like something was crawling under her skin, pulling her through the door they entered from; however she was unsure if the feeling had her running from something or to it.

"Havers, thin ice, remember?" Wrath's patience had limits but Havers was definitely drawing a fine line with his snooty and 'holier than thou' attitude.

"Ah, yes, my lord. Please, my lady, accept my apologies. I seem to allow my mouth more freedom than it deserves." Offering up a humoring bow, Havers tried not to aggravate the king any further.

Eyeing the male in front of her, the feigned sense of respect he showed was only out of his very real fear of her cousin. Trying to ease the tension, Reigne bowed her head in acceptance in an attempt to end the silent battle betwixt the males. "Healer, all is forgiven."

Righting himself, Havers decided that it was time to get to business. "My lord, I apologize for my blunder. But doesn't it seem odd that she came to you from out of nowhere?" Turning back to the female, "My lady, I apologize, but I am sure that you can understand my concerns; however I am not here to question your paternity, I am here to tend to your health. Can you tell me of any injuries that you sustained while you were…detained?"

Seemingly ignoring Havers' words, the strength of the pull Reigne felt caused her to take a few steps towards the door unconsciously. All Reigne's movements stopped when she heard a loud ringing sound behind her. Turning, she watched as the healer picked up a device and put it to his ear.

"What?! Why didn't you stop him? You know who is back here." Pausing as he listened. "Oh, well if that's the case then fine. Please send Ehlena back to assist."

"Havers? What's up?"

"Apparently, my lord, a male has been injured and the male that brought him in, barged past my staff, adamant that he be triaged immediately." Havers all but growled.

Before Havers could say something to piss Wrath off, Beth interrupted Havers' future tirade by trying to smooth things over. "Havers, we can wait if you need to tend to the injured male. We don't mind. Do we love?"

Wrath pulled his 'die now' glare away from Havers and forced a smile for his _shellan_. "Right. We will…"

Just then the doors at the end of the hall opened and the room went completely silent. Turning to look at who had entered the hall, the only thing to be heard in the room was Reigne's whispered "No..." as she grabbed for the counter behind her.

Walking briskly through the hall was Butch, the male that she had met earlier. Seeing him wearing his odd hat and his mismatched clothing caused a small bubble of laughter to almost break through, that was, until her eyes travelled downward. Seeing why the male was in such a hurry made her want to cry... the injured male that was brought in was her warrior.

Hanging limply in Butch's arms, covered in blood soaked clothes was Vishous. It wasn't until she felt herself getting lightheaded that she noticed that she was watching Vishous' labored breaths instead of breathing. Everywhere Reigne looked, she saw that the room was frozen from shock and Butch was standing just outside the doorway looking in. Why was no one helping him?

Drawing in a deep, mind clearing breath, Reigne pushed away from the counter and took charge. "Wrath, Beth, please move out of the way. Butch, please hurry and place Vishous on that…um…table." Turning around she fixed Havers with a piercing stare. "Healer, tend to the male and his wounds."

When everyone just stood there staring at her, she stomped her foot with a loud, "Now!"

With that there was a flurry of movement in the surgery room. Beth pulled Wrath out of the way as Butch hurried in and gently laid his best friend on the table allowing Havers to finally move over to the table and began to exam the injured male.

Wrath stepped over and cleared his throat. "Havers, do whatever you have to, just make him better." Not waiting for the physician's response, he put an arm around his shellan and tried to usher her through the door. "Come on, let's go wait in the hall. Havers' needs room to work."

"I wish to remain."

Stunned, Wrath turned around and tried to talk the female into waiting with them, "Reigne, I get that you want to be there for him, but come on out here and wait with us. You will only be…"

Beth didn't allow her mate to completely shove his size fourteen shitkicker in his mouth before grabbing his arm and turning him towards the door. "Reigne, do what you have to do. We'll be right outside if you need us."

Outside of her directions, Reigne was completely oblivious as to what was happening in the room. Walking blindly to the table opposite the healer; Reigne looked down upon her warrior. The blood that dripped from his body onto his clothes made him look so pale; the grimace he wore from pain broke her heart each time she looked at him.

Out in the waiting room, Wrath paced the hall trying to calm down before talking to his mate. "Would you care to explain about why you just shoved me out here and let her stay behind?"

Beth sighed, she knew this was going to be one hell of a battle, but since there's a time and place for everything...here was definitely not the place and now was definitely not the time. "Love, I know that you're worrying, and I know you don't understand why I pulled us out here, but she's an adult and she has to learn how to make her own choices. If you took a minute to think as a brother instead of being her relative, you would agree that her staying in there is a good idea. She is trying to help Vishous like he helped her."

The sound of Wrath's grunt crossed with a growl as his only response made Beth cringe inwardly; telling her that she really needed to choose her words better. "Wrath, even you have to agree that she's safe in there. There's only one way in and out, so no one will get past you and Butch. If dealing with Havers gets to be too much, we know that Reigne will come get us. Remember, you are her 'safe-haven'; as soon as she could, she ran right to you. If there's a problem or she needs help, you know that she'll do it again." Holding her hand out, Beth waited patiently for her words to hit home for Wrath so he'd come to her.

Looking to the door that his shellan just pushed him out of, Wrath could sense Reigne in the room worrying over Vishous and his injuries. He needed to keep his cool about this and just take it easy until she joined them. Looking to Beth, he knew she was right, but damned if he enjoyed admitting it. Walking up to his shellan, he pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head.

Smiling into Wrath's broad chest, Beth had the urge to snicker, knowing she had won this round. She'd just have to stay on top of things in the future to avoid his head from blowing up. Peeking around his shoulder, she watched as Butch placed himself in front of the doors to the surgery room.

From his self-appointed guard position, Butch settled himself in for a long wait. His boy was pretty banged up, but he knew Havers could fix him. Smiling to himself, he also knew that V had an angel watching over him as long as Reigne was in there.

"How may I assist, healer?"

Looking at the female in confusion Havers seemed to lose his concentration by her question. "Excuse me?"

"The warrior is a large male and you are only but one set of hands; if you guide my actions, then I would be able to provide extra assistance. I am, as they say, a fast learner."

"Oh, right. Well, my lady, it's not proper for a female to be alone in such close proximity with two unknown males. Besides, I will have to cut away his clothes to assess his king will kill me if…"

A deep, gravelly moan from the table interrupted Havers' rejection of her assistance and attracted Reigne's attention to the diamond-like eyes staring back at her. Those same eyes that she had seen repeatedly since her arrival at the mansion but had never noticed the beautiful shade of blue which rimmed his light eyes before. Eyes which allowed his feelings and emotions to be seen as they surged by. Confusion, pain, and...was that a minute joy...or maybe it was relief at seeing her? The last emotion was so hard to decipher, since she herself was foreign to it, but perhaps it was only her hopeful thinking?

Vishous opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. His pure determination urged him to try again until he finally managed to get out one word. "Where?"

Taking ahold of Vishous' gloved hand, Reigne spoke softly, trying to bring comfort to her warrior. "You are with the healer. Butch brought you for your wounds to be tended to."

Havers' normally intolerable behavior decided to step in as he tried to check his patient. "Can you tell me where you are hurt?"

"Right...side…back" Vishous groaned.

In order to gauge Vishous' injuries, Havers leaned over his patient, trying to move the bloodied shirt away from the oozing jagged edges of the wounds. Palpating the outer edge of the visible side wound, Havers accidently touched a nerve which had become inflamed, causing Vishous to jerk away and reopen the slight scabbing on his back.

With a loud pain-filled howl, Vishous rolled to his left side and faced Reigne. Even the most tender of touches to his wounds caused Vishous to growl and tighten his hold on Reigne's hand. Forcing himself to concentrate on breathing deeply to ease the pain, he realized that with his tight hold, he must be close to breaking her hand. Trying to keep from breaking her small hand, he readied himself to pull his hand back, when he noticed that yet again, she had a hold of his gloved hand. It was like she was drawn to it which scared the shit out of him.

Each painful groan that passed Vishous' lips elevated Reigne's worry; but as Vishous settled onto his side and tried to pull his hand away, she refused to yield, tightening her grip until her fingers turned white. There was not a lot that she could do for him with as injured as he was and oh how she wished that she could take away his pain, but the one thing she could do was comfort him and she refused to let him take that away. When the pain that the healer inflicted caused Vishous to jerk away, the only thing she could do was catch herself from falling over and glare at the healer for the additional pain he caused.

"Hear me well healer, you will tend to his wounds and you will do so without causing him any more pain. Regardless of what you deem proper, I will not leave his side. Talk me through what needs to be done so I may assist but as previously stated I am not leaving. Do we have an accord?"

Havers stared at her, completely flabbergasted. No female had ever dared to speak to him like that, not his beloved shellan before she passed unto the fade, not Marissa, and he was certainly not going to take it now; especially not from some look alike con-artist trying to finagle their way into the royal family. Although he was only a young when the king's family had been killed, he KNEW that there were no other royal children; Wrath was the last pure vampire. "No female. We do not have an accord. I will not be ordered around in my own clinic. Now I need you…what…what are you doing?"

Reigne's anger at the healer quickly grew, and along with it, her right hand began to glow brighter and brighter like she had seen Vishous' hand do earlier. The power she felt in her hand was not a gentle warmth like she had experienced earlier with Vishous' palm; this heat was like a white hot poker, ready to burn. The stand that she had taken ahold of to keep from falling over started to sizzle and spark before it began disintegrating. Reigne's attention was diverted from the falling ash when Vishous' grip on her hand tightened from the shock of what he saw; as their eyes briefly met, the previous pain seemed to be overridden by the worry and astonishment of what transpired in front of him. Shocked at what she had done, Reigne quickly remembered what caused it; turning to Havers with a serious expression locked on her face, she raised a delicate eyebrow as her answer to his protests and concealed her gentle squeeze of Vishous' hand.

Havers looked on with absolute horror as he watched his surgical instrument stand turn to ash and decided that it was best to not argue with the female before he lost anything else. Familiar with the male on the table and his particular 'curse', Havers started to believe that he and the female must be related since they shared the same infirmity. "Fine, fine, stay if you must, just don't get in my way."

Turning away to get the tools he would need, Havers started mumbling to himself about a missing nurse, DNA and something else.

Reigne stopped paying attention to the annoying little man and focused on her warrior. Vishous was pale...too pale and he looked exhausted. Brushing his hair from his forehead, Reigne chanced a quick look at the wound on his side; from what little bit she could see, the still bleeding wound looked deep and extremely painful.

Without shifting her attention from Vishous, Reigne interrupted Havers from his task, "Healer, hand me your shears so I can remove his shirt; he is still bleeding and the material is obstructing the wound."

Glancing up from his task, Havers saw the female tenderly inspecting the wound of the wounded male on his table; furthering his confirmation that she must have been related to him rather than the king and was just trying to maneuver her way into a family that was not hers. Maybe he could prove himself to Wrath by helping weed out this con-artist; well, he'd deal with that after he takes care of the male on his surgical table. Something that he knew that he had to do since the male was a brother; if anything went wrong, he'd not only have the King to contend with but also the rest of the brotherhood and evidently this female as well.

While keeping an uneasy eye on the female, Havers handed over a pair of scissors and explained the easiest way to remove his patient's clothing. Handing a pair of scissors to the female, Havers gave directions for her. "If you slice along the seam of the shirt, it will split and fall right off. Removing the clothing will allow for his injuries to be easily accessed and I can start dealing with his wounds."

"Thank you for your guidance healer." Looking at Vishous' worried expression, Reigne tried to push as much strength and comfort as she could through her gaze, "Warrior, be still. I will be as gentle as possible; hopefully you will not feel too much movement."

Vishous knew by the look in her eyes that she really believed what she said. She was steadfast in making sure that she took care of him with as much care as he did her. Reluctantly releasing her hand so she could work on his shirt, Vishous whispered to her. "We need to talk."

"You are correct warrior, and we will...as soon as you are healed. Now be still." Unconsciously humming an old lullaby that she learned from her mahmen, Reigne began gently tugging Vishous' shirt from his leather pants until it was free. Trying to cause as little damage and little pain as possible, Reigne slowly cut her way up the seam; gently trying to ease the blood encrusted material free from his wounds. Reigne was determined not to cause him any more pain. Deep in concentration, she was unaware of anything else going on in the room.

Knowing that Reigne had to cut higher up on his shirt, Vishous cautiously moved his arm; knowing that it should have been painful but wasn't, was something that he barely paid attention to. He was too lost in the haunting melody of her voice as she hummed to pay attention to anything, really; in fact, it was almost as if her humming seemed to have the same effect as a male's purring does to a female. But one thing did kind of stick out for him, it was only just moments ago when she ashed that stand. Damn...how many more surprises did this female hold? Well actually, now that he thought about it, she seemed shocked that it happened. Maybe she didn't know that she could do it. Great...more things for him to remember to add to their talk. He sighed at the craziness of it all.

Gazing at her face, Vishous noticed that the higher she cut on the shirt, the harder she concentrated and chewed on her lip. Knowing that Havers was going to knock him out just gave him more incentive to keep his eyes on her since he wanted to enjoy the sight of her as much as possible.

The pain that Vishous felt was nothing compared to the fear that Reigne carried inside of her. Her want to prevent any further pain for her warrior was paramount as she continued to cautiously cut higher up the seam of his shirt; only stopping when she realized that in order for her to complete her next moves, she will have to cause him more discomfort. For the shirt to completely come off, she would need to access an area that would require his arm to be moved.

"Vishous, I need to raise your arm and rest it on my shoulder, I swear I will do this as quickly as possible. Is this acceptable?" When he nodded, she set down the scissors on the table then slowly lifted his arm and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Can you hold onto my shoulder for just a moment?"

"Yeah…don't worry…bout me." V managed in between quick breaths. "Just...don't…stop…humming."

Confused, Reigne looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "Humming?" She picked up the scissors and continued working on the sleeve so the shirt could be easily peeled off. "I was humming?" When he nodded, she gave a dazed shrug as she continued to cut. "That is odd; I had no awareness of doing so. I wonder what it was."

Making quick work of the shirt sleeve which covered the muscled arm that was resting on her shoulder; Reigne took a quick moment to admire the well-defined limb which looked as though it could have been chiseled from stone. Forcing herself back to her task, she swiftly pulled apart the sleeve then made the final cut leading up to the neck of the shirt.

Placing the scissors back on the table, Reigne glanced at Vishous before taking hold of his shirt. "Warrior, I must remove your shirt. Keep your hand on my shoulder and know that if I cause you pain...I am truly sorry. Although, it appears that some of the blood has dried to the shirt on your back; so the probability of this being painful is great. If you need me to stop, please tell me."

Vishous gazed into her concerned eyes; lightly squeezing her shoulder to reassure her as he tried to ignore the radiating body-wide pain. "Said…don't…worry…bout…me."

"Verily, warrior, I do." Starting to pull part of his shirt down without issue, Reigne would have almost felt as though she accomplished something, but the wounds were covered by the other side of the shirt. "Are you ready, warrior?"

Vishous' permission was all Reigne needed before she began peeling the bottom of his shirt away. "Healer, I believe he is ready for your attention. His shirt is ready to be removed from both wound sites."

Looking up from his tray of surgical tools, Havers looked towards the female; since a nurse had yet to come in, he had no other choice but to accept her offer of help. Walking to the table, he bent over his patient to assess the female's work. "Yes...yes, very good. Now, as I hold the ends of the shirt still, you pull it away from his skin."

Nodding, Reigne concentrated on the task at hand, but as she worked, she found that Vishous was correct. She was in fact humming, but more importantly, it seemed to help him stay calm through the pain. Tears stung her eyes as soon as she recognized the tune hummed to her by her beloved mahmen; even after all these years the pain of missing her had not waned. Furiously blinking away the tears, she focused her full attention on her task. Pausing when she was but an inch away from freeing the material from the wound; she took a deep breath, slowly releasing it to continue humming as she slowly revealed the nasty wound in his side.

Each move Reigne made, Vishous felt from his hand's place on her shoulder; as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he felt comforted by her warmth, by that simple contact he had with her. The really annoying thing to Vishous was that he knew that it was only temporary; he wished that this simple act...the comfort that came from touching her would last just a bit longer. But as soon as she was done with his shirt, he knew that Havers' stuck up ass would make her move just to keep her from being close to him. Havers' annoyance and disapproval was so thick that he could almost choke on it. In a way Vishous could understand his reasoning; after all, why in the hell would a female member of the First Family willingly choose to help out in something as gory and bloody as a surgical room, especially when it was him on the table? There was definitely no love lost between the physician and the Brotherhood, something that stemmed from Havers' failed attempt to have Wrath murdered.

In the middle of his thoughts, a searing pain throbbed from his back, making him hiss. Refocusing himself on his surroundings, Vishous felt the moment his shirt was peeled back from his skin and responded with another hiss. Trying to keep himself from jerking away from the throbbing pain of his injury being poked at, he tightened his grip on Reigne's shoulder. Hoping that he wasn't causing her too much pain, he glanced at her face and thanked the Virgin that her attention was so tuned into her task that she hadn't noticed the pain he surely was inflicting. Feeling his shirts' gradual movement, he moved his hand closer to Reigne's neck to get her attention.

"Quick…just pull it…off…like a band aid."

Reigne paused and looked at him curiously. "What is a band aid?"

"Just…rip it…off."

"I don't understand." Reigne looked at him confused and worried about causing him more pain.

Annoyed, Havers finally spoke up, "He means to just pull the shirt off quickly so that he endures a quick stab of pain versus the slow pain of pulling the shirt off slowly."

"Vishous, I am so sorry." Reigne bowed her head in guilt. "I was unaware that I was causing you more pain."

A weak smile broke through Vishous' face. "Don't worry…about it. I've dealt… with worse…promise."

Taking a deep shaky breath, Reigne tilted her head to the side, brushing her cheek against the large male hand gripping her shoulder. "If that is what you request, then I will do as you desire."

Gritting his teeth, trying to prepare himself; Vishous took in a hefty breath, centering himself for the minutes ahead and nodded his acceptance.

The howl of pain that came from the room in front of them made everyone jump. Wrath's sudden move, that had him to his feet and in front of the occupied room, was almost so quick that Butch barely caught him.

"Sorry, man. Can't let you through. If they need our help, they'll ask for it."

"Cop, you better move your ass before I move it for you."

Shaking his head, Butch stood his ground and refused to move.

Knowing that Wrath was about to blow his top when he started to growl, Beth hurried to wrap her arms around him; hoping that the comfort of them would calm him down.

"Wrath, man, sit down. No news is good news and the fact that no one has come out here after that noise means that it's good. So go sit with Beth."

With an annoyed snarl, he allowed Beth to pull him backwards and back to his seat. He didn't like feeling so helpless. After all, this was his injured brother and newly found cousin and no one to protect them in there.

"Love, that was Vishous, not Reigne. And you know that he'll be ok. It takes more than just a few scrapes to take that male out. Besides, as feisty as she got with us, I don't doubt that she'll make sure that Havers will behave and do everything possible to help Vishous." Beth knew that the only reason she got Wrath to sit was because he allowed her to; making sure that he'd stay, she cuddled in his lap and laid her head on his large shoulder.

"I don't like this one bit. If I hear even the smallest of noises...even a squeak, I'm busting in there, and NO ONE will stop me." Rubbing his tired eyes he tensely sat under his shellan.

Beth knew that keeping Wrath out of the 'medical crosshairs' was going to be next to impossible since Reigne was in the room in question. The only thing that she could do at the moment was pray that they'd get through the rest of the evening without any interruptions or outbursts from her hard-headed male...but of course, she knew better than to hold her breath with hope of him behaving.

"Healer, now that the material has been removed, how quickly can you stop his bleeding?"

"If I can get him to be still, it will be pretty quick. But if he keeps jerking around, it will take a bit longer." Leaning over his patient, Havers began the routine task of tending to wounds belonging to a member of the elite brotherhood. Cleaning Vishous' wound was definitely a chore since every time his gauze touched an area; Vishous would jerk away from the cause of the pain.

Hearing the hiss of pain that escaped Vishous' lips, Reigne was at a loss at how to ease the warrior's pain. Once he was rolled on his side and his back wound made visible, she could see that although it looked minor, it caused him dire pain. Glancing into his eyes, all she could see was his pain...immense pain; then a thought occurred to her.

"Healer, I will keep him still. Quickly tend to his wounds and then notify me when you are done."

"Let you know? I thought you were staying here to help? What's going on here?" Havers face echoed both his annoyance and apprehension.

"Be at ease healer, I am going to attempt to bring him some comfort from the pain. Do not worry yourself; just please hurry and get the wounds taken care of."

"Humph...fine." Reverting his attention back to the wounds he added, "This shouldn't really take very much longer. If he stays still then we are looking at around thirty minutes."

"Do what you must, healer. I will keep him still." Looking down at the worried face of her warrior, Reigne could not stop herself from gently brushing his hair from his face and leaning down to whisper in his ear. "Be at ease warrior, we will get you through this. Do you trust me? Do you trust me to remove your mind from the pain?"

Without even a single stray thought, Vishous nodded, knowing that his answer was yes. It really was shocking to him since the only people he really trusted were his brothers; hell, he normally used and bedded female's...but trusting them? No way in hell. So it was a complete shocker that this female managed to crawl under his skin so quick. But he guessed that old saying 'What goes around, comes around' might just be true, because Reigne trusted him when in reality, after her abuse, she had no reason to. Not only that, but she gave that trust wholeheartedly and gave all of herself without thought of what he might do with it; so he couldn't do anything other than return that trust when she asked for it.

"Close your eyes warrior." Watching as he debated her request to himself before closing his eyes; Reigne smiled and began to hum as he finally complied. Clearing her mind, she knelt down so that she was eye level with Vishous, gaining his attention by placing her hands on the sides of his face; running the fingertips of her right-hand along the edges of the tattoo on his left temple. She couldn't help but listen to his sharp intake of breath, making his exhaling breath sound like a hiss. "Warrior, you must relax."

Trying an old trick that Killigan and she used to do as kids, Reigne closed her eyes, reached inside, and pulled herself into an empty room known to her since young-hood. Once inside, she called out, summoning Vishous to where she stood. As she calmly waited, she made sure to keep her surroundings as simple as possible to keep Vishous' shock to a minimum.

"Uh...Reigne?"

Turning around, she saw a confused Vishous standing behind her, still dressed as he had been while being tended by the healer. Unconsciously her gaze went straight to the expanse of chiseled muscle on his chest, making her lose her prior train of thought.

"Reigne?"

"Hmm?" Jerking her head up from her ogling, Reigne blushed bright red. "Oh...um...yes warrior?"

"Don't get me wrong, because I'm glad to not feel doc poken' on me but where are we?"

"This is something that Killigan and I used to do when we were younger. It is also how I learned to hibernate. I aided you into relaxing your body enough so I could bring you here...a type of 'room' within our own minds to help you while hiding from whatever is distressing you." Reigne gestured above her. "You can create whatever or wherever you want and it cannot hurt you."

V glanced around at his surroundings, almost jumping when the night sky suddenly came into focus above their heads. Turning to ask a question, he was shocked to see that she was no longer there but behind him sitting under a tree. "How in the hell are you doing this?"

"Come, sit and I will try to explain." Patting the space beside her, Reigne waited for him to sit as she looked up at the night sky. Somehow sensing him having sat, she started with a long sigh, "You must understand, as young being kept hidden, there was very little that Killigan and I were permitted to do. When we got older we were able to remember certain times and experiences that we could share with each other...almost like a blending of the minds. See...this place here..._Mahmen_ would bring us here sometimes when we were young so that we were able to have time out of the keep. Of course, as we aged, our time outside seemed to occur less and less. This hill and tree were located just behind the keep; of course guards were always surrounding us, but as most honorable males are with young, they ensured that we were never afraid of them so they stayed as out of sight as possible. I remember us sitting here on a soft blanket, just watching and talking about the stars overhead. It is such a peaceful and happy memory."

Looking around, Vishous was almost smacked with the remembrance of how simple this period of history was. He couldn't help but admire the view from around them; green grasses under them surrounded the hill and beyond, an old stone keep with lit candles in the windows, and thick smoke that smelled like wood pouring from its chimney. "This is where you stayed as a young?"

"Yes. This was always a happy place for me... and when Killigan and I would enter our own mind-scape, we would return here. Unfortunately after Killigan went through her transition, it was as if she either lost the ability or she began refusing to join me. Then when times became rough, especially with Uncle, this is where I would go for solace. It is literally like hibernation; I hear and feel nothing from my body. But for me to get here, it is a bit like dematerializing; I have to calm down and put my mind into what I want to do. I thought it was only something that Killigan and I could do as we were twins. As you were able to join me in my memories earlier and here now, it stands to reason that this is not just a twin ability." As a single tear escaped, she closed her eyes; hoping that it went unnoticed.

"Hey..." Reaching over, Vishous wiped the tear away. "What's doin'?"

Opening her eyes, the pain that could be seen in them was almost gut wrenching to witness. "Being here...it brings forth the memory of my parents. I still miss them so very much. And now with Killigan being gone, I feel so terribly alone."

The tears that fell from Reigne's eyes were an unfamiliar torture for Vishous. Unconsciously acting on his instincts, he quickly reached over, pulled her into his arms, and gently began purring as soon as she rested her head on his shoulder. Feeling the warmth of her tears as they fell on his bare skin he tightened his hold on her.

"_Leelan_, you are not alone. You have family…hell it probably won't take long for Wrath to drive you nuts from being overprotective, not to mention Beth and the rest of the brothers and their _shellans_; you are surrounded by more family than you know."

Reigne sniffed as she tried to get her tears under control. It had been so long since she had truly allowed herself to think of her parents and the heartache that came with losing them; now that she gave herself permission to dwell, it felt as though it had been only days since they passed unto the fade. Sitting with her warrior, listening to the sound of his voice, she could actually say that she felt comforted. Just his presence alone made her feel safe, which was a feeling she hadn't felt in a very long time. Removing his hand from her waist and kissing the knuckle. She smiled to herself as she pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder, she heard him in her mind, calling her _leelan_ again. With each breath that went into just that one meaningful word, she hoped only to hear it again, but fearing that the echoes of her past would affect whatever was occurring.

Whispering words that spoke to how grateful she felt for each word of comfort he gave her; she said the only words that could come to mind, "Thank you."

Havers surveyed his work on the injured back of the brother laid out on his surgery table. The cut had run from shoulder blade to shoulder blade and had been deep enough to require stitches instead of healing naturally. Angling himself to closer inspect the wounds on the male's side, he couldn't help but shake his head in amazement that his injuries hadn't included any internal damage. It seemed as though the offending weapon managed to just miss any vital organs or fracture a rib or two.

As his gaze sighted the female in the side of his vision, he couldn't help but not believe that she was trying to pass off as a relative of the king…Hell, she was as related to him as he was. Everyone knew the powers that Vishous was reported to have; goodness, there was even a warning in the old language tattooed on the male's temple. The mind reading and that gloved hand…the damage that thing alone caused, was a thing of legends. And in the short time that she had been in his clinic, she had shown more common traits to the warrior on his table than the king…where his instrument stand once stood was now ash, providing first-hand proof of the power that the female held.

Currently, she was still kneeling by the male's side with her hands on his face and both of their eyes were closed; in the exact position as she was when he began tending to his wounds. Everything that he had observed up to this point as both a doctor and a male told him that she was blood kin to the male on the table and was trying to dupe the king by playing on what occurred to his family in the past. He was even going to prove it. He'll show the king that he is not the same male that tried to have him killed; he was a gentlemale trying to save his king the embarrassment and heartache that would come from this…this…this female.

Snapping off his gloves, he walked away from the male on the table. Stopping by the deep prep sinks; he tossed the gloves into the bio-trash container and leaned against the sink's stainless steel rim. He watched the motionless male that he just finished stitching back together and the motionless female at his side. His instincts were screaming at him that something was not right with the pair and he was going to find out what.

Washing his hands, his mind darted over the few options that he had available; remembering the reason for her visit, he retrieved the instruments he needed in order to examine her the way the king wanted him to. First and foremost, Wrath wanted her checked for injuries, and he'd definitely do that, but before he did anything, he'd prove the female a liar. Pulling out the necessary pieces to draw blood, he quickly went over to the female, hoping that like Vishous, she wouldn't feel what he was about to do.

Vishous tilted her chin so he could look her in the eyes. Since getting pulled into Reigne's 'la la land', he noticed that it seemed as though his body unconsciously reacted to her the longer they were around each other. For an unmated male that believed he would never be mated, this was a hard pill to swallow. And yet, when he looked into those gold rimmed, iridescent green eyes, he welcomed the pull that he felt when she was near; but what was weird was that if he closed his eyes, he bet that he'd most likely be able to find her no matter where she was.

"Tell me, _leelan_, why are we here?"

Trying not to get lost in his eyes, she smiled at him. "I brought you here so that the physician could work on your injuries without causing you pain."

"Really?" Vishous leaned into her and rested his forehead on hers. "And here I thought it was just you trying to get back into my arms."

"Verily, warrior, you try my patience. This is completely for your well-being." Trying to sound offended, Reigne's look became serious as she added, "Truthfully?"

"You can always tell me the truth, love."

Reigne leaned back so she could look him in the eyes. "Very well…truthfully, I thought that once you learned of my past, that you would never wish to be in my presence again. You are a male of worth and I am no longer deserving of such a male."

Hearing that, V could honestly say that he was shocked stupid. He never expected to hear anything like that from anyone. But he had a good idea that she thought herself to be tarnished or some crap like that because of her asshole uncle and worried about the shit he said; but hearing it out loud, coming from her lips…it was shocking, not to mention it made him want to murder the asshole even more.

Cupping her face with his palms, he placed a light kiss on her mouth.

Reigne looked at him in confusion. "I do not understand."

V chuckled softly and rubbed a thumb across her bottom lip. "Female, I remember telling you earlier that I enjoyed kissing you and I still do. Your past is just that, the past. It doesn't affect anything between the two of us as we have a commonality in our pasts, but we can talk about that later. Right now, I would love to kiss you again, if you'll let me."

Reading his face, Reigne could see the truth in his words and relaxed. "I guess that can be part of our talk later then?" When he nodded, she cupped his face as he had done to her and pulled him down to her. As she reached out with her tongue to trace his bottom lip, she heard his sharp intake of breath. Leaning back she watched as his fangs elongated and he smiled.

Vishous couldn't believe the effect she had on him, something as simple as what she just did and he was primed and ready to go. He had no idea how things worked in this 'la la land' of hers, but he figured a kiss or two wouldn't hurt anything. Going slowly, he closed the distance between the two of them and caught her bottom lip with his fangs. Sucking on her lip, he felt her relax in his arms. Deepening the kiss, he lifted her by her waist and settled her more comfortably in his lap.

As Reigne wound her arms around his neck, she barely registered that she was now straddling his lap. Letting herself live in the moment and enjoy the sensations that Vishous was causing in her body, she tilted her head to the side as he kissed his way to her neck.

A growl escaped V's mouth as he focused on the pale white skin of her neck that was offered to him. Dragging his fangs along her skin, just over her vein, he heard her moan and he smiled. As much as he wanted to, he had no idea how things would be affected if he bit her here, in this mental landscape, but he sure was enjoying teasing her with the idea.

Reigne had never before had the urge to want to be fed upon. Feeling Vishous' fangs on her neck, she could barely contain the wanton feeling of needing to feel him take from her neck. As he dragged his fangs along her skin, she shivered in anticipation and was about to tell him to bite her, when she felt a pinch of pain on her arm.

"Ow."

Pulling back, V looked at her neck to see if he had accidentally nicked it. "Did I hurt you?"

Reigne looked at her left arm and wondered what the phantom pain could have been. "No, it was not you. I felt…well it was pain in my arm. Very curious."

**Ok, now you that you have read this newest chapter please review, it only takes a minute out of your time. Reviews make me want to update faster, I promise, they are like an addiction. Reviews are what I live for, other than the brothers of course.**


End file.
